TOKYO – Seven & I
Holdings Co., which operates 7-Eleven convenience stores, has big plans for the
future, including increasing its North American locations by twofold, Bloomberg
reports. The company “could increase our store number (in North America) to
20,000 or even 30,000,” said Toshifumi Suzuki, chairman of the company in
Japan. Currently, 7-Eleven has more than 8,000 locations in North America.
Suzuki gave no time period for when or for how long the expansion plans would
take.
Seven & I has been
snapping up small convenience store chains in the United States as a way of
improving its store competition. Consumer spending and business investment are
up, indicating a strengthening of the U.S. economy, which has analysts
predicting growth for the channel.
“There will be a huge
potential in expansion in large cities in the U.S.,” said Dairo Murata, an
analyst at JPMorgan Securities Japan Co. “There are over 50,000 convenience
stores in Japan, with (a population of) 120 million people. Considering the
U.S. population is about 300 million, there is . . . unlimited potential.”
In 2012, Seven & I
purchased more than 650 North American convenience stores. “We will raise the
quality of operations, and we will go into the areas where we don’t have
outlets,” said Suzuki.
Last year, Seven & I held a 24% market share
in the U.S. convenience store industry. The closest competitor in terms of
market share is Circle K with 1.6% and The Pantry with 0.1%.