Irving, Texas — 7-Eleven, Inc., the largest convenience retail chain in the world, recently celebrated the opening of its 60,000th store. 7-Eleven® started out as Southland Ice Company in Oak Cliff, Texas, in 1927. In 1946, with stores open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., the name was changed to 7-Eleven. Stores started staying open around the clock in 1971.
7-Eleven expanded into Canada in 1969 and Mexico in 1971 as part of joint ventures. In 1974, 7-Eleven expanded to Japan with Seven-Eleven Japan, which became the parent company in November 2005. Since then, 7-Eleven has opened stores in Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia and UAE through area license and master franchise agreements. The first 7-Eleven store in Vietnam is expected to open in spring 2017, expanding the company’s operations to 18 countries.
“The 7-Eleven story is amazing and inspiring; we started as a small local ice house and have grown over the years store-by-store, community-by-community, and country-by-country into an iconic global brand,” says Joe DePinto, president and CEO of 7-Eleven.
Last year, 7-Eleven opened one store every 2.5 hours, equating to approximately 4,000 stores.
SOURCE: 7-Eleven, Inc.