As reported in a CSP Daily News Flash, the convenience retailer has engaged NAI CRES as its real-estate partner to act as its exclusive broker for new-store growth, site selection, [image-nocss] acquisitions, dispositions and other real-estate needs.
"We're looking at possible site locations all over," Grant Distel, 7-Eleven's real-estate manager for Las Vegas, told The Las Vegas Review-Journal. "We're focused mainly on the center of town where everything is more established."
He added, "We're bullish on Las Vegas. It's been very good for us. We have a strong presence there. You have the additional tourist base and so add that into customer demand. There's opportunity for more [stores]."
The chain's primary objective is to improve its overall store presence, 7-Eleven said in a statement. With careful and methodical growth together with strategic relocations to capitalize on the strongest trade areas, 7-Eleven said that it anticipates expanding its presence in Clark County over the next several years. In addition to ground-up development and acquisitions, the company's plans call for the franchise conversions of other retail outlets to 7-Eleven stores, it said. 7-Eleven plans to remodel some existing operations, creating more franchise and other business opportunities, it added.
NAI CRES, based in Salt Lake City, has engaged Jeff Mitchell of Virtus Commercial, an affiliate of Mountain West Retail, as the local representative for 7-Eleven's real estate needs in Las Vegas.
"7-Eleven is in a unique position among retailers in the current market conditions because they are actively expanding," said Mitchell. "The 7-Eleven growth strategy is exceptional because it's adaptable; the company can pursue opportunities in a variety of formatspad sites, shopping center end caps, urban walkups, nontraditional sites such as casinos, sports venues and airports. Bottom line is that if there is an opportunity 7-Eleven will look at it, if it is a great opportunity, 7-Eleven opens a store."
NAI CRES also is providing real-estate services for 7-Eleven in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Typical 7-Eleven stores have 2,400 to 3,000 square feet of space, pull traffic from densely populated areas with strong daytime population and multiple traffic generators. "Flexibility" is a significant component in 7-Eleven's real-estate strategy, it said. The company said that it likes endcap space in shopping centers as well as freestanding stores and downtown, urban locations. 7-Eleven also wants to be part of regentrification efforts in neighborhoods where it plans to grow and that are undergoing revitalization.
A central part of 7-Eleven's business strategy is its Business Conversion Program (BCP), where the company looks for existing independent retail stores that want to convert to the national chain and become a part of 7-Eleven's franchise system. The company is converted approximately 180 locations to 7-Eleven stores nationwide since 2005.
NAI Corporate Real Estate Services (NAI CRES), an affiliate of NAI Utah based in Salt Lake City, is a full=service commercial real-estate firm that provides customized corporate real-estate outsourcing solutions to companies that have national and international real-estate needs. With transactional experience in more than 700 markets throughout the United States, NAI CRES is part of the NAI network, which consists of more than 325 commercial-real estate offices worldwide.
Dallas-based 7-Eleven operates, franchises and licenses close to 6,450 U.S. stores under the 7-Eleven brand. It operates, franchises or licenses more than 8,100 7-Eleven stores in North America. Globally, it operates, franchises or licenses close to 37,500 stores in 16 countries. During 2008, 7-Eleven stores worldwide generated total sales of more than $53.7 billion.
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