Early days
7-Eleven is the world’s largest operator, franchisor, and licensor of convenience stores, with more than 21,000 stores in 18 countries. There are 38000 7-eleven convenience stores located around the world.
7-eleven uses sophisticated computer system to manage its operations.7-eleven uses advanced tracking technology that enables it to compete on the basis of fast inventory.
The company started by John Jefferson Green 1927 as Southland Ice Company in Dallas. In addition to selling blocks of ice to refrigerate food, John Jefferson Green an enterprising ice dock manager, began offering milk, bread and eggs on Sundays and evenings when grocery stores were closed.
The profits earned impressed Joe Thompson Jr (1901-1961) the director of Southland Ice Company and convinced him to develop the concepts, thus giving birth to the firsts convenience store.
However the great depression in 1931 plunged Southland into bankruptcy. Despite the financial confusion, profits from the Southland Stores continued to climb, and with the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, ice and beer sales surged.
Rapid expansion
By 1945 Southland owned stores scattered over north-central Texas, operating from 7 in the morning to 11 at night, seven days a week. In 1946 the firm Tracey-Locke, commissioned to create a new name, chose '7-Eleven' to emphasize the firm's commitment to long operating hours to serve customers better.At the end of the 1950s, John Thompson began to introduce 7-Eleven stores outside of Texas, in Virginia, Maryland, and eastern Pennsylvania. In reaction to mass migration to the suburbs, Southland opened more suburban stores.
Through a new computer inventory system, 7-Eleven was able to pinpoint its strengths and discover that single purchase items were its best sellers. In 1999, company changes its name to 7-Eleven, Inc.
In 1973, the Ito-Yukado Company (IY Group), signed the original licensing agreement with Southland to introduce the American concept of 7-eleven stores to Japan.
The IY Group later founded 7-eleven Hawaii in 1989. In a dramatic turn of events IY Group bought the franchisor, 7-eleven in 1991.
History of 7-Eleven
