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7-Eleven, Inc.

File:7eleven.gif
Company type	Public (NYSE: SE)
Industry	Retail (Grocery)
Founded	Oak Cliff, Texas (1927)
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas
Key people	Toshifumi Suzuki, Chairman James W. Keyes, President/CEO Gary R. Rose, EVP/COO
Products	Slurpee® Beverage Big Gulp® Beverage Cup
Revenue	$10.882 billion USD (2003)
Number of employees	31,500 (2004)
Website	www.7-eleven.com

For the bicycle team see 7-Eleven Cycling Team.

For the mobile phone company see 7-Eleven Wireless.

7-Eleven is an international conglomerate which operates the largest chain of convenience stores in twenty countries including: the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, Japan, Australia, Republic of China (Taiwan), People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Mexico, The Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Puerto Rico, and South Africa. Stores operated in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1990s but did not prove popular.

The company was founded in Oak Cliff, Texas, which is now part of Dallas, in 1927, and started to use the 7-Eleven name in 1946; the previous branding of these stores was as "Speedee-Mart". Nearly 40% of today's 7-Eleven stores are operated in Japan since the Japanese-based company Ito-Yokado purchased the majority interest from Southland Corporation in 1991. Also in 1991, Southland Corporation changed its name to 7-Eleven, Inc.

Initially, these stores used to be open from 7 am to 11 pm, hence the name; however, most 7-Eleven stores are now open twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week. 7-Eleven's most popular private label products include: Slurpees, a partially frozen slurry in a number of flavors, and the Big Gulp super size soft drink in 32, 44, 52, and 64 (American) fluid ounce sizes, which has now been criticized for contributing to the worldwide obesity epidemic. In 2005 7-Eleven introduced their largest soft drink product, the 128 fluid ounce (1 gallon) Team Gulp.

United States

In the United States many 7-Eleven locations have gas stations with gasoline distributed by Citgo, which in 1983 was purchased by Southland Corporation (and 50% of Citgo was subsequently sold in 1986 to Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. and the remaining 50% in 1990). In certain U.S. states, 7-Eleven is the only large stand-alone convenience store chain in operation, and is thus synonymous with the term "convenience store." (See genericized trademark.)

Once-ubiquitous 7-Eleven stores are no longer found in some Midwestern states. In May 1998, it was announced that 113 7-Eleven stores would be sold and converted into Kum & Go stores. Other 7-Elevens, especially those in larger cities like Minneapolis-St Paul, closed. In states like Minnesota and Wisconsin, other convenience stores like SuperAmerica and Speedway occupy the same market.

7-Eleven attempts to have critical mass in the regions they are located.

Australia

The First 7-Eleven opened in Australia in 1978. There are currently 283 stores in the states of Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, the majority of store are in metropolitan areas. Stores are owned operated as franshises, with a central administration.

Canada

In Canada, a limited number of 7-Eleven locations have gas stations with gasoline distributed by Shell Canada. In November 2005, they will also be rolling out 7-Eleven Wireless.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, 7-Eleven is operated by Dairy Farm since 1981. There are over 600 stores in the city in 2005. About half of them are franchised stores. In September 2004, Dairy Farm acquired Daily Stop, a convenience store chain located mainly in the territory's MTR and KCR stations, and converted the Daily Stop stores to 7-Elevens in the spring of 2005.

7-Eleven in Hong Kong offers items such as food and drink, magazines, medicines, CDs, and MP3 songs. Extra services include the sale of postage stamps, recharging Octopus Cards, and ATM machines found within the store premises.

Circle-K, another chain of convience stores, is 7-Eleven's major competitor in Hong Kong.

Japan

Japan has more 7-Eleven locations than anywhere else in the world. Of the 28,123 stores around the globe, 10,868 (39%) of them are located in Japan. 1,396 are in Tokyo alone.

The feel and look of the store is somewhat different from that of the U.S. 7-Elevens in Japan offer a wider selection of products and services. Japanese 7-Elevens offer not only food, drinks, and magazines, but also video games and consoles, music CDs, DVDs, alcohol, condoms, personal hygiene products, as well as seasonal items like Christmas cakes, Valentine's Day chocolates, and fireworks. Customers can also pay for utilities, buy concert tickets, and withdraw money from their bank accounts using the ATM. Slurpees and Big Gulp super size soft drinks are not sold in Japan; hot and cold cans of coffee and cans and bottles of various teas are popular. Food sold includes Japanese as well as Western items. In the refrigerator case are onigiri, udon, sushi, salad, microwaveable burritos, sandwiches with the crusts cut off, and bento. On the shelves are instant ramen and other dried noodles, bread and rolls, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and other condiments, chocolate and other sweets, and snack foods such as potato chips. From warmers, the store provides hot foods like oden, corn dogs and large Chinese meat buns.

On September 1, 2005, Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd., a new holding company, became the parent company of 7-Eleven, Ito Yokado, and Denny's Japan.

7-Elevens in Korea and China are very similar to those found in Japan, and often sell Japanese food items as well.

Scandinavia

The Scandinavian 7-Eleven is a part of Reitangruppen AS. All stores are franchised and 7-Eleven often tries to place the stores on corners in city centers.

In Norway, 7-Eleven was established in 1986. As of August 2004, there are 79 7-Eleven stores in Norway.

The first Danish 7-Eleven was opened in Østerbro on September 14, 1993. As of the end of 2002, there were over 40 stores, mostly in Copenhagen, Århus and Aalborg.

7-Eleven Sverige has the license in Sweden since 1993. In the mid-90's, 7-Eleven in Sweden received bad publicity, resulting in many stores being sold and closed down. For a time there were only 7-Elevens in Stockholm and Gothenburg. 7-Eleven returned to the south of Sweden in 2001 when a convenience store opened in Lund. As of 2005 there are 73 7-Elevens in Sweden: 55 of them in Stockholm, 16 in Gothenburg, two in Lund, two in Helsingborg and one in Malmö.

Taiwan

In Taiwan, the 7-Eleven is the most popular convenience store, and is owned by The President Chain Store in conjunction with the Seven Eleven Inc in the United States. The first store opened in 1980 and since then has grown to cover 3680 stores as of 2005 . In fact, behind Japan and the United States, Taiwan has the world's third largest collection of 7-Eleven convenience stores. Actually, even this figure doesn't do justice to the popularity of this chain there. Considering that Taiwan's total population is much smaller than either that of Japan or the USA, if you divide each country's population by the number of 7-11's, this gives Taiwan the leading edge at 6200 potential shoppers for each Seven Eleven convenience store. The difference is easy to see compared to Japan being second (14946 potential customers for each 7-Eleven) and America third with 48359 customers for each store. The Taiwanese often say that there is a 7-Eleven "around every street corner" in the city, while in the United States you'd have to travel over a mile or so to find another of the same store.

Thailand

Seven Eleven has close to 3,500 stores in Thailand (as of 2005), of which more than 1000 are in Bangkok.

Seven Eleven in Thailand is part of the Charoen Pokphand Group (http://www.cpthailand.com)

Trivia

The trademark logo of 7-Eleven is all capital letters except the "n" is lower-case.

External links

• 7-Eleven
• Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd
• Ito-Yokado's (parent company) website
• 7-Eleven in Hong Kong
• 7-11 in Taiwan
• 7-Eleven in Thailand
• 7-Eleven in South Korea

• Convenience stores
• Dallas/Ft. Worth-based companies
• Multinational corporations
• 7-Eleven