After shattering both its international and domestic store growth records last year, 7-Eleven, Inc. is on target to have an even bigger year in 2012.
The world's largest retailer by units added more than 4,600 stores worldwide in 2011 and plans to continue the company's accelerated growth.
Some 600 additional stores were built, acquired or transitioned from another business to the 7-Eleven brand in the United States and Canada during 2011.
This year, 7-Eleven's goal is to exceed that number by adding at least 630 new stores to its US and Canada roster by year end.
Since 2003, 7-Eleven has almost doubled its global store count, from 25,000 to more than 46,000. Today, a new 7-Eleven store opens somewhere in the world approximately every two hours.
"7-Eleven's US growth strategy includes building greater market presence and adding quality locations in metropolitan areas where the company already has stores as a means to increase efficiencies and leverage the company's scale and daily-delivery infrastructure,” said president and CEO Joe DePinto.
"The financial strength of 7-Eleven has enabled us to grow aggressively, even in what has been a challenging economic environment for many companies in the past four years."
"In the world of real estate and development, it has been a buyer's market, and we have been in the enviable position to capitalize on property and space availability plus 7-Eleven's strong credit rating," said real estate vice president Dan Porter.
The most significant 2011 purchase was Wilson Farms Inc., a Buffalo-based convenience store chain with 188 outlets in New York state.
Already this year, 7-Eleven has acquired 55 locations from Sam's Mart in the Carolinas and 51 from ExxonMobil in North Texas. More acquisitions are expected to be announced in the coming months.
As its store count rises, so do the franchising opportunities for qualified businessmen and women to be their own boss. In the US, 80 percent of 7-Eleven's stores are franchised—more than 300 through the company's business conversion program whereby independent operators convert their stores to the 7-Eleven brand with the store owner becoming a 7-Eleven franchisee.
Based in Dallas, Texas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses more than 9,200 stores in North America.
