7-Eleven

7-Eleven Inc. (stylized as 7ELEVEn) is a Japanese-American international chain of convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. After 70% of the company was acquired by Japanese affiliate Ito-Yokado in 1991, it was reorganized as a subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd in 2005, and is now held by Chiyoda, Tokyo-based Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd. 7-Eleven operates, franchises, and licenses 68,236 stores in 17 countries as of June 2023.
== Etymologies ==
The company's first outlets were in Dallas, named "Tote'm Stores" 
because
 customers "toted" away their purchases. Some stores featured genuine 
Alaskan totem poles
 in front of the store. In 1946, the chain's name was changed from 
"Tote'm" to "7-Eleven" to reflect the company's new, extended hours, 
7:00 am to 11:00 pm, seven days per week. In November 1999, the 
corporate name of the US company was changed from "The Southland 
Corporation" to "7-Eleven Inc."
== History ==
In 1927, a Southland Ice Company employee, John Jefferson Green, 
began selling eggs, milk, and bread from one of 16 ice house storefronts
 in Dallas, with permission from one of Southland's founding directors, Joe C. Thompson, Sr.
 Although small grocery stores and general merchandisers were available,
 Thompson theorized that selling products such as bread and milk in 
convenience stores would reduce the need for customers to travel long 
distances for basic items. Thompson eventually bought the Southland Ice 
Company and turned it into Southland Corporation, which oversaw several 
locations in the Dallas area.
In 1928, Jenna Lira brought a totem pole as a souvenir from 
Alaska and placed it in front of the store. The pole served as a 
marketing tool
 for the company, as it attracted a great deal of attention. Soon, 
executives added totem poles in front of every store and eventually 
adopted an Alaska Native-inspired
 theme for their stores. Later on, the stores began operating under the 
name "Tote'm Stores". In the same year, the company began constructing 
gas stations
 in some of its Dallas locations as an experiment. Joe Thompson also 
provided a distinct characteristic to the company's stores, training the
 staff so that people would receive the same quality and service in 
every store. Southland also started to have a uniform for its ice 
station service boys. This became the major factor in the company's 
success as a retail convenience store.
In 1931, the Great Depression
 affected the company, sending it toward bankruptcy. Nevertheless, the 
company continued its operations through re-organization and 
receivership.
 A Dallas banker, W.W. Overton Jr., also helped to revive the company's 
finances by selling the company's bonds for seven cents on the dollar. 
This brought the company's ownership under the control of a board of 
directors.
In 1946, in an effort to continue the company's post-war
 recovery, the name of the franchise was changed to 7-Eleven to reflect 
the stores' new hours of operation (7 am to 11 pm), which were 
unprecedented at the time. In 1963, 7-Eleven experimented with a 
24-hour schedule in Austin, Texas, after an Austin store stayed open all
 night to satisfy customer demand. Later on, 24-hour stores were 
established in Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, as well as Las Vegas, 
Nevada.
 In 1971, Southland acquired convenience stores of the former Pak-A-Sak 
chain owned by Graham Allen Penniman, Sr. (1903–1985), of Shreveport, 
Louisiana.
With the purchase in 1964 of 126 Speedee Mart franchised convenience 
stores in California, the company entered the franchise business. The 
company signed its first area licensing agreement in 1968 with Garb-Ko, 
Inc. of Saginaw, Michigan, which became the first U.S. domestic area 7-Eleven licensee.
In the late 1980s, Southland Corporation was threatened by a 
rumored corporate takeover, prompting the Thompson family to take steps 
to convert the company into a private model by buying out public 
shareholders in a tender offer. In December 1987, John Philp Thompson, 
the chairman and CEO of 7-Eleven, completed a $5.2 billion management 
buyout of the company. The buyout suffered from the effects of the 1987 
stock market crash
 and after failing initially to raise high yield debt financing, the 
company was required to offer a portion of stock as an inducement to 
invest in the company's bonds.
Various assets, such as the Chief Auto Parts chain, the ice 
division, and hundreds of store locations,
 were sold between 1987 and 1990 to relieve debt incurred during the 
buyout. This downsizing also resulted in numerous metropolitan areas 
losing 7-Eleven stores to rival convenience store operators. In October 
1990, the heavily indebted Southland Corp. filed a pre-packaged Chapter 
11 bankruptcy in order to transfer control of 70% of the company to 
Japanese affiliate Ito-Yokado.
Southland exited bankruptcy in March 1991, after a cash infusion 
of $430 million from Ito-Yokado and Seven-Eleven Japan. These two 
Japanese entities now controlled 70% of the company, with the founding 
Thompson family retaining 5%. In 1999, Southland Corp. changed its name 
to 7-Eleven, Inc., citing the divestment of operations other than 
7-Eleven. Ito-Yokado formed Seven & I Holdings Co.
 and 7-Eleven became its subsidiary in 2005. In 2007, Seven & I 
Holdings announced that it would be expanding its American operations, 
with an additional 1,000 7-Eleven stores in the United States.
For the 2010 rankings, 7-Eleven climbed to the No. 3 spot in Entrepreneur
 Magazine's 31st Annual Franchise 500, "the first and most comprehensive
 ranking in the world". This was the 17th year 7-Eleven was named in the
 top 10.
Also in 2010, the first "green" 7-Eleven store opened in DeLand, 
Florida. The store features U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) 
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
 (LEED) elements. Also, the environmentally friendly design brings the 
store savings in energy costs. That same year, 7-Eleven went mobile with
 the launch of the Slurpee drink's iPhone and Android Application (App).
 The Slurpee drink app made it easy to find 7-Eleven stores and provides
 driving directions. The following year, 7-Eleven celebrated its 
40,000th store opening and within two years of that milestone opened its
 50,000th store.
== Products and services ==
7-Eleven in the United States sells Slurpee drinks, a partially 
frozen soft drink introduced in 1965 (Oklahoma's stores are known as Icy Drink), and Big Gulp beverages, introduced in 1976.[23][24] Other products include: 7-Select private-brand products,
 coffee, fresh-made daily sandwiches, fresh fruit, salads, bakery items,
 hot and prepared foods, gasoline, dairy products, carbonated beverages 
and energy drinks, juices, financial services, and product delivery 
services.
7-Eleven is known for its relatively large drink sizes and 
24-hour accessibility. 7-Eleven offers beverages in sizes as large as 
128 ounces (3785 mL) (Team Gulp). These beverage sizes were all among 
the largest sold soft drinks when they were introduced. 7-Eleven has 
often been associated with these large sodas in popular culture. For 
example, Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed ban on large sodas in New 
York City was frequently referred to as the 'Big Gulp ban'.
In 2012, 7-Eleven changed the size of the Double Gulp from 64 
ounces to 50 ounces (1478 mL). The older style cups were too wide at the
 bottom and did not fit beverage holders in cars. This was not a 
reaction to the large soda ban proposal, according to a spokesperson.
In February 2020, they opened a cashierless location at 7-Eleven 
headquarters in Irving, Texas.
== Global operations ==
=== Asia ===
==== Hong Kong ====
7-Eleven first opened in Hong Kong in 1981, when it was a British 
colony. As of July 2019, it operates as a subsidiary of the Dairy Farm. 
It is popularly called tsat jai (七仔, meaning "little seven") or se fun
 (些粉, based on the English "seven"). As of 2012, 7-Eleven had 964 stores
 in Hong Kong, of which 563 were operated by franchisees.
 Hong Kong reportedly has the second-highest density of 7-Eleven stores,
 after Macao. All 7-Eleven stores in Hong Kong accept the ubiquitous 
Octopus card as a method of payment. They also accept payments for 
utility bills and public housing rent.
In November 1980, Southland Corporation and Hong Kong 
conglomerate Jardine Matheson signed a franchise agreement to bring 
7-Eleven to the territory. The first 7-Eleven shop opened in Happy 
Valley on April 3, 1981. The chain expanded aggressively across Hong 
Kong throughout the 1980s. The 50th store opened in Kwai Chung on 
October 6, 1983, while the 200th was inaugurated by Simon Keswick at Tai
 Po Centre on May 7, 1987. The stores were sold to Dairy Farm, part of 
the Jardine Matheson group, in 1989.
Octopus card readers were introduced in all 7-Eleven stores in 
July 1999, although at first these could only be used to add value to 
the card. In September 2004, the number of locations in Hong Kong was 
substantially boosted when Dairy Farm acquired Daily Stop, a rival 
convenience store chain, from SCMP Retailing (HK). The chain's 84 shops,
 located mainly in MTR and Kowloon–Canton Railway stations (as well as 
shopping centres and housing estates), were converted to 7-Eleven 
stores.
In 2009, a 7-Eleven location in Quarry Bay opened with a hot food
 counter, called "7 Café", selling traditional Hong Kong street food and
 milk tea.
 This feature was subsequently extended to select other 7-Eleven 
locations across Hong Kong under the "Daily Café" and "Hot Shot" brands.
==== Indonesia ====
In 2008, 7-Eleven announced plans to expand its business in Indonesia 
through a master franchise agreement with Modern Sevel Indonesia and 
Media Nusantara Citra.
 Modern Sevel Indonesia's initial plans were to focus on opening stores 
in Jakarta, targeting densely populated commercial and business areas. 
There are 190 7-Eleven stores in Indonesia as of 2014 and it has reduced
 to only 166 stores as September 2016.
In April 2017, PT Modern Seven Indonesia announced that they will
 be acquired by PT Charoen Pokphand Restu Indonesia, subsidiary of 
Charoen Pokphand Group in Thailand. The acquisition process planned to 
be completed before June 2017.
 Charoen Pokphand Group is also the master franchise holder of 
approximately 9500 7-Eleven stores in Thailand. But on June 22, 2017, PT
 Modern International Tbk announced that all the remaining 30 7-Eleven 
stores in Indonesia will be closed on June 30, 2017 due to the 
cancellation of its acquisition process.
=== Japan ===
Japan has more 7-Eleven locations than anywhere else in the world, 
where they often bear the name of its holding company "Seven & I 
Holdings". Of the 67,480 stores around the globe, 20,700 stores (nearly 
31% of global stores) are in Japan, with 2,705 stores in Tokyo alone. On
 September 1, 2005, Seven & I Holdings Co., Ltd., a new holding 
company, became the parent company of 7-Eleven, Ito-Yokado, and Denny's 
Japan.
As of July 2019, 7-Eleven has stores in all 47 prefectures of Japan with the opening of 14 new locations in Okinawa Prefecture.
The aesthetics of the store are somewhat different from that of 
7-Eleven stores in other countries as the stores offer a wider selection
 of products and services. 7-Eleven stores in Japan are also popular 
among tourists from other countries, as the Seven Bank ATM machines at 
branches will accept foreign debit and credit cards for withdrawing cash
 in Japanese yen.
Following the example of other convenience stores in Japan, 
7-Eleven has solar panels and LEDs installed in about 1,400 of its 
stores.
In July 2019, 7-Eleven launched then almost immediately suspended
 a mobile payment service, 7pay. The service was hacked upon launch, 
and attackers were able to spend money from affected customers' 
accounts.
=== Macau ===
7-Eleven entered the Macau market in 2005 under the ownership of Dairy Farm,
 the same conglomeration group operating Hong Kong's 7-Eleven. With only
 25.9 square kilometers, Macau has 45 stores, making it the single 
market with the highest density of 7-Eleven stores, containing one store
 per 0.65 square kilometers.
==== Mainland China ====
7-Eleven opened its first store in China in Shenzhen, Guangdong in 1992 
and later expanded to Beijing in 2004, Tianjin and Shanghai in 2009, 
Chengdu in 2011, Qingdao in 2012, Chongqing in 2013, Hangzhou and Ningbo
 in 2017, Nanjing in 2018, and Wuhan, Xi'an, and Fuzhou in 2019. In 
China's 7-Eleven stores where Slurpees are offered, the Chinese name 思乐冰
 (sīlèbīng) is used. They also offer a wide array of warm food, 
including traditional items like steamed buns, and stores in Chengdu 
offer a full variety of onigiri (饭团). Beverages, alcohol, candy, 
periodicals, and other convenience items are available as well. The 
majority of these stores are open for 24 hours a day.
==== Malaysia ====
In the Philippines, 7-Eleven is run by the Philippine Seven 
Corporation (PSC). Its first store, located in Quezon City, opened in 
1984. In 2000, President Chain Store Corporation (PCSC) of Taiwan,
 also a licensee of 7-Eleven, purchased the majority shares of PSC and 
thus formed a strategic alliance for the convenience store industry 
within the area. The number of stores reached 1,602 at the end of 2015. 
As of 2017, there are 2,285 7-Eleven stores all over the Philippines.
Starting Oct 2019, 7-Eleven signed an agreement with Caltex to 
use the former as its convenience stores in its gas stations nationwide,
 thus rapidly increasing 7-Eleven store chains count in a short span of 
time.
==== Singapore ====
In Singapore, 7-Eleven forms the largest chain of convenience stores
 island-wide. There are 393 7-Eleven stores scattered throughout the 
country as of February 2018. Stores in Singapore are operated by Dairy 
Farm International Holdings,
 franchised under a licensing agreement with 7-Eleven Incorporated. The 
first 7-Eleven store in Singapore was opened along Upper Changi Road in 
1983, and in 1986 the first franchised 7-Eleven store (under the Jardine
 Matheson Group) was opened. The license was then acquired by Cold 
Storage Singapore, a subsidiary of the Dairy Farm Group, in 1989.
In 2006, Shell Singapore
 and 7-Eleven agreed to rebrand all 68 of its Shell Select convenience 
stores into 7-Eleven. The partnership was terminated in October 2017, 
and the remaining 52 7-Eleven stores in Shell petrol stations will be 
gradually rebranded back into Shell Select.
==== South Korea ====
7-Eleven has a major presence in the Republic of Korea convenience store
 market, where it competes with CU (store), GS25 (formerly LG25), and 
independent competitors. There are 9,231 7-Eleven stores in the Republic
 of Korea; with only Japan and Thailand hosting more stores. The first 
7-Eleven store in the Republic of Korea opened in 1989 in Songpa-gu in 
Seoul with a franchise license under the Lotte Group. In January 2010, 
Lotte Group acquired the Buy the Way convenience store chain and 
rebranded its 1,000 stores under the 7-Eleven brand.
==== Taiwan ====
In Taiwan, 7-Eleven is the largest convenience store chain and is 
owned by President Chain Store Corporation under Uni-President 
Enterprises Corporation.
 The first fourteen stores opened in 1979, and struggled to make a 
profit. Southland Corporation partnered with Uni-President to modernize 
the stores. However, business was still slow, and Uni-President opted to
 stock Asian foods. In 1986, 7-Eleven made its first profit in Taiwan. 
The 5,000th store was opened in July 2014. In January 2018, an 
experimental and unstaffed shop branded the X-Store was opened. 7-Eleven
 announced a plan's to operate a combination store in partnership with 
Domino's Pizza in February 2019.
In the early 2000s, 7-Eleven introduced a corporate mascot named 
Open-Chan (Open 小將), an extraterrestrial dog who wears a rainbow-shaped 
crown from a fictional planet known as Planet Open to be a "cartoon 
spokesperson" for the store chain in Taiwan, Open-Chan quickly grew in 
popularity among Taiwanese children soon after its initial debut. After 
Open-Chan's subsequent rise to prominence in Taiwan, the character was 
even introduced in Japan.
==== Thailand ====
The first store opened in 1989 on Patpong Road in Bangkok. The 
franchiser in Thailand is the CP ALL Public Company Limited, which in 
turn grants franchises to operators. In January 2018 there were 10,300 
stores in Thailand. 7-Eleven holds a 70% market share in the convenience
 store category. Thailand has the second largest number of 7-Eleven 
stores after Japan. In an effort to reduce plastic pollution the parent 
company of 7-Eleven stores in Thailand, CP All Public Company, announced
 their intent in November 2018 to reduce and eventually end the use of 
single-use plastic bags. As of January 2020, 7-Eleven—along with 42 
other Thai retailers—will stop giving single-use plastic bags to 
customers.
==== United Arab Emirates ====
Seven & I Holdings announced in June 2014 that they had agreed a 
contract with Seven Emirates Investment LLC to open the first Middle 
Eastern 7-Eleven in Dubai, United Arab Emirates during the summer of 
2015. The company also said that they had plans to open about 100 stores
 in the country by the end of 2017. The first store was opened in 
October 2015. The country has 13 stores as of January 2018.
==== Turkey ====
7-Eleven entered the Turkish market in 1989, opening its first store on 
12 September 1989. Major stakeholder of the master franchise, Özer 
Çiller sold his shares in 1993, after his wife Tansu Çiller became the 
Prime Minister. In the 2010s, 7-Eleven left the Turkish market, 
transferring most of its stores to franchise owners.
=== Europe ===
==== Denmark ====
The first 7-Eleven store in Denmark was opened at Østerbro in Copenhagen
 on September 14, 1993. There are 183 stores, mostly in Copenhagen, 
Aarhus, Aalborg, and Odense, including eight stores at Copenhagen 
Central Station. In Denmark, 7-Eleven has an agreement with Shell, with a
 nationwide network of Shell/7-Eleven service stations, and an agreement
 with DSB to have 7-Eleven stores at most S-train stations.
==== Norway ====
The first 7-Eleven store in Norway was opened at Grünerløkka
 in Oslo on September 13, 1986. As of January 2018, there are 153 
7-Eleven stores in Norway, more than 50% located in Oslo. Norway has the
 northernmost 7-Eleven in the world, situated in Tromsø.
 On a per-capita basis, Norway has one 7–Eleven store for every 47,000 
Norwegians, compared to Canada, which has one for every 74,000 
Canadians.
==== Sweden ====
The Reitan Group
 has held the license in Sweden since December 1997. In the mid-1990s 
period, 7-Eleven in Sweden received adverse publicity due to the 
unfavourable labour contracts offered by its then-licensee, Small Shops,
 an American-based company, resulting in many stores being sold and 
closed down. For a time, there were only 7-Elevens in Stockholm and Gothenburg.
7-Eleven returned to the south of Sweden in 2001, when a 
convenience store opened in Lund. Later in the 2000s, the Swedish 
7-Eleven chain was involved in controversy when the Swedish TV channel 
TV3
 exposed widespread fraud on the part of the Reitan Group in its 
management of the 7-Eleven franchise, which the Reitan Group eventually 
admitted to on its website.
On August 27, 2007, the Reitan Group and Shell, announced a 
ten-year agreement to re-brand some 269 service stations across Norway, 
Sweden, Finland and Denmark, as 7-Elevens. The contract meant that 
7-Eleven would expand from 77 stores to 189 stores in Sweden. The country now has 187 stores.
==== Spain and United Kingdom ====
7-Eleven was available in Spain until 2000 with many stores inside 
Repsol petrol stations, as well as some other petrol-stations across the
 country.
During the 1980s, small 7-Eleven convenience stores were common 
in the larger towns and cities of London and the South East of England. 
The first shop opened in London, in Sydenham South East London in 1985. 
The company ceased trading operations in 1997, but considered resuming 
UK trading in 2014.
=== North America ===
==== Canada ====
The first 7-Eleven store to open in Canada was in Calgary, Alberta, 
on June 29, 1969. There are 640 7-Eleven stores in Canada as of 2017. 
Winnipeg, Manitoba, has the world's largest number of Slurpee consumers,
 with an estimated 1,500,000 Slurpees sold since the first 7-Eleven 
opened on March 21, 1970. All 7-Eleven locations in Canada are corporate
 operated. Like its U.S. counterparts every July 11 the stores offer 
free Slurpees on "7-Eleven Day".
A limited number of 7-Eleven locations feature gas stations from 
Shell Canada, Petro-Canada, or Esso.
 In November 2005, 7-Eleven started offering the Speak Out Wireless 
cellphone service in Canada. 7-Eleven locations also featured CIBC 
ATMs—in June 2012, these machines were replaced with ATMs operated by 
Scotiabank. 7-Eleven abandoned the Ottawa, Ontario, market in December 
2009 after selling its six outlets to Quickie Convenience Stores,
 a regional chain. Following concerns over the fate of Speak Out 
Wireless customers, Quickie offered to assume existing SpeakOut 
customers and phones into its Good2Go cellphone program. 7-Eleven is 
similarly absent from the Quebec market due to its saturation by chains 
like Alimentation Couche-Tard and Boni-soir, and by independent 
dépanneurs.
In March 2016, 7-Eleven acquired 148 Imperial Oil-owned
 Esso gas stations in Alberta and British Columbia for C$2.8 billion. 
Most of their convenience stores were converted to 7-Eleven stores, and 
they remain supplied by Esso. Some locations were not immediately 
converted to 7-Eleven, and instead operate under the transitional banner
 "smartstop 24/7" with their existing store formats, typically inherited
 from the previous On the Run chain.
==== Mexico ====
In Mexico, the first 7-Eleven store opened in 1971 in Monterrey
 in association with Grupo Chapa (now Iconn) and 7-Eleven, Inc. under 
the name Super 7. In 1995, Super 7 was renamed to 7-Eleven, which now 
has 1,835 stores in several areas of the country. When stores are 
located within classically designed buildings (such as in Centro 
Histórico buildings) or important landmarks, the storefront logo is 
displayed in monochrome with gold or silver lettering. The main 
competitors in Mexico are OXXO (Femsa), Super City (Soriana), and Farmacias Guadalajara, among others.
==== United States ====
Supermarket News ranked 7-Eleven's North American operations 
No. 11 in the 2007 "Top 75 North American Food Retailers," based on the 
2006 fiscal year estimated sales of US$15.0 billion. Based on the 2005 
revenue, 7-Eleven is the 24th largest retailer in the United States. As 
of 2013,
 8,144 7-Eleven franchised units exist across the United States. 
Franchise fees range between US$10,000 – $1,000,000 and the ongoing 
royalty rate varies. 7-Eleven America has its headquarters in the 
Cypress Waters development in Irving, Texas.
 Small-size Slurpees are free on "7-Eleven Day", on July 11. This 
holiday first became widely celebrated on July 11th, 2008 when first 
discovered by J. Brabank and C. Johnson.
7-Eleven Stores of Oklahoma have operated independently since 
1953 under an agreement with William Brown. It is now led by his son, 
James Brown.
 As part of this franchise agreement, 7-Elevens in Oklahoma bear slight 
differences to stores elsewhere: for instance, products such as Big Bite
 hot dogs are not sold there, the Slurpee is branded as the "Icy Drink",
 and Oklahoma stores operate their own loyalty program called "Thx!", 
which does not intersect with the national 7Rewards system. As of 
December 2018, there are currently 7,854 stores in the country.
==== Fuel ====
In the U.S., many 7-Eleven locations used to have filling stations with 
gasoline distributed by Citgo, which in 1983 was purchased by Southland 
Corporation. 50% of Citgo was sold in 1986 to Petróleos de Venezuela, 
S.A.,
 and the remaining 50% was acquired in 1990. Although Citgo was the 
predominant partner of 7-Eleven, other oil companies are also co-branded
 with 7-Eleven, including Fina, Exxon, Gulf, Marathon, BP, Shell, 
Chevron
 (some former TETCO convenience stores were co-branded with Chevron, and
 Texaco prior to the 7-Eleven purchase in late 2012), and Pennzoil. 
Conoco is the largest 7-Eleven licensee in North America.
7-Eleven signed an agreement with ExxonMobil in December 2010 for the 
acquisition of 183 sites in Florida. This was followed by the 
acquisition of 51 ExxonMobil sites in North Texas in August 2011.
=== Oceania ===
==== Australia ====
The first 7-Eleven in Australia opened on August 24, 1977, in the 
Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh, Victoria.
 The majority of stores are located in metropolitan areas, particularly 
in central business district areas. Stores in suburban areas often 
operate as petrol stations and most are owned and operated as 
franchises, with a central administration. 7-Eleven bought Mobil's 
remaining Australian petrol stations in 2010,
 converting them to 7-Eleven outlets, resulting in an immediate and 
unprecedented overnight major expansion of the brand. In South Australia
 all Mobil petrol stations were sold to Peregrine Corporation and 
branded as On the Run petrol stations.
7-Eleven stores in Australia sell a wide range of items, 
including daily newspapers, drinks, confectionery, and snack foods. They
 sell gift cards, including three types of pre-paid Visa cards. The 
chain has partnered with BankWest, placing a BankWest ATM in each of 
their stores nationwide. Each year on November 7, 7-Eleven promotes 
"7-Eleven Day" by giving away a free Slurpee to customers.
In April 2014, 7-Eleven announced plans to start operating stores
 in Western Australia, with 11 stores planned to operate within the 
first year and a total of 75 stores established within five years. The 
first store was opened on October 30, 2014 in the city of Fremantle. The country has 675 stores as of January 2018.
==== Wage theft in Australian franchise ====
In August 2015, Fairfax Media and the ABC's Four Corners 
programme reported on the employment practices of certain 7-Eleven 
franchisees in Australia. The investigation found that many 7-Eleven 
employees were being underpaid at rates of around A$10 to A$14 per hour 
before tax, well under the legally-required minimum award rate of 
A$24.69 per hour.
Franchisees underpaying their staff would typically maintain 
rosters and pay records that would appear to show the employee being 
paid the legally-required rate, however these records would in fact only
 include half of the hours the employee actually worked in a week. 
Employees would then be paid on the basis of these records, resulting in
 them effectively being paid half the legally-required rate.
It was also reported that workers were often not paid loadings 
and penalty rates that they are legally entitled to, for working 
overtime hours, nights, weekends, and public holidays.
After these reports came to light and received widespread 
attention, some employees had alleged to Fairfax Media that they had 
begun to be paid correctly through the 7-Eleven payroll system, however 
would then be asked by the franchisee to pay back half their wages in 
cash.
 7-Eleven subsequently announced they would fund an inquiry to 
investigate instances of wage fraud. The inquiry was conducted by an 
independent panel chaired by former Australian Competition and Consumer 
Commission chairman Allan Fels, and with the support of professional 
services firm Deloitte.
 The inquiry invited submissions from current and former 7-Eleven 
employees who allege they have been underpaid, and assess each 
individual claim.
In September 2015, chairman Russ Withers and chief executive 
Warren Wilmon announced they would resign from the company. Deputy 
chairman Michael Smith replaced Withers, while Bob Baily was appointed 
as interim chief executive.
The Four Corners investigation into 7-Eleven won a Walkley Award 
in 2015. In December 2015, Stewart Levitt of law firm Levitt Robinson 
Solicitors, who featured prominently in the Four Corners program, announced a potential class action lawsuit
 against 7-Eleven head office on behalf of franchisees who had allegedly
 been lured into signing on with 7-Eleven by false representations.
== Layout ==
TBA
Category:Retailers
Category:Convenience stores
Category:Restaurants
Category:North America
Category:Europe
Category:Asia
Category:Companies
Category:Franchises
Category:Brands
Category:Gas stations
Category:Companies founded in the United States