IRVING, Texas --7-Eleven Inc., with locations in 17 countries, recently opened its 60,000th global store, and the chain's growth continues.
In spring 2017, 7-Eleven—the largest convenience retail chain in the world—is expected to open its first store in Vietnam, thus expanding its operations to 18 countries. The Irving, Texas-based company opened one store every 2.5 hours last year—approximately 4,000 stores.
"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," said president and CEO Joe DePinto. "We will continue to grow by staying focused on the constantly changing convenience needs of our customers and by staying committed to the communities we serve."
7-Eleven got its start in 1927 as the Southland Ice Co. in Oak Cliff, Texas. 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.
The company expanded into Canada in 1969 and Mexico in 1971 as part of joint ventures. In 1974, 7-Eleven moved into Japan with Seven-Eleven Japan, which became the parent company in November 2005.
7-Eleven has locations in Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia and UAE through area license and master franchise agreements.
It has the most stores in Japan (18,860), followed by Thailand (9,278), the United States (8,378) and South Korea (8,238).
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