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This is probably the biggest convenience store worldwide and most of you must have known about it too. It is considered one of the most successful franchises but little do you know about the story on how 7-Eleven managed to become successful today.

This story might inspire you on how you can be successful as well as building your own network.

History of 7-Eleven

7-Eleven is an American-Japanese convenience that is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It was established in the year 1927 as an ice block shop in Dallas with the name Tote'm Store. 

However, 70% of the convenience store was later taken over by a conglomerate company in Japan, Ito-Yokado in the year 1991 and it was then reshuffled.

In the year 2005, it became one of the subsidiaries of the company Seven-Eleven Japan Co, Ltd. Now it is centered in Tokyo as well as operating in 17 countries across the globe. As of 2019, they own as much as 68,236 branches.

How it all Started

This store that we all know by 7-Eleven was once called Tote'm Store when it was first established. At the start they were selling blocks of ice that were used in the olden days to preserve food since there was no refrigerator invented yet.


Then Tote'm Store merge together with Southland Ice company which was situated in Dallas. One of the shops used to sell food and drinks.

In 1931, Joe C. Thompson, Sr was appointed as the president of Southland Ice company. It can be said that during that time it was an economic recession and the company was bankrupt. However, not long after that, they came up with this new idea which emphasizes more on food and drinks.

The name 7-Eleven

It was in 1946, that they decided to change the name of the company and the name 7-Eleven was given. The name was chosen mainly because of the operation hours in which they will open from 7.00 in the morning until 11.00 in the night. 

The Expansion of The Franchise

In the 1950s was the time when 7-Eleven started to expand outside of Texas and they started to open the shops in East America. 

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The Son of Joseph Thompson became the president of the company in 1961 and their business started to take off from that moment onwards. 

It was also in 1963, that 7-Eleven started to operate 24 hours a day and it was also on this year that the company open its franchise to the public.

Later in 1973, the Southland Ice company have licensed 7-Eleven to Japan one year after it managed to open 5000 7-Eleven convenience stores worldwide.

As we can see even today, there are more 7-Eleven stores being open from time to time and it is also diversifying the type of goods and services to be provided to customers. As of now, 7-Eleven not only sells blocks of ice like it used to but also gift cards, groceries, and also their famous Slurpee.

They are also very convenient since they are usually close to our home asides from being open all the time.

What is the most popular convenience store in your country?

Source: Britannica

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