7-Eleven pioneered the convenience store concept way back in 1927 at the Southland Ice Company in Dallas, Texas. In addition to selling blocks of ice to refrigerate food, an enterprising ice dock employee began offering milk, bread and eggs on Sundays and evenings when grocery stores were closed. This new business idea produced satisfied customers and increased sales, and convenience retailing was born!
The company's first convenience outlets were known as Tote'm stores since customers "toted" away their purchases, and some even sported genuine Alaskan totem poles in front. In 1946, Tote'm became 7-Eleven to reflect the stores' new, extended hours - 7 a.m. until 11 p.m., seven days a week. The company's corporate name was changed from The Southland Corporation to 7-Eleven, Inc. in 1999.Today, 7-Eleven is the undisputed leader in convenience retailing with more than 27,900 stores operating in the U.S. and 17 other countries and total sales of more than $36 billion in 2003.
More than 5,800 7-Eleven and other convenience stores are operated and franchised by 7-Eleven, Inc. in the United States and Canada, and they serve approximately six million customers each day.Each store focuses on meeting the needs of busy shoppers by providing a broad selection of fresh, high-quality products and services at everyday fair prices, along with speedy transactions and a clean, safe, friendly shopping environment.7-Eleven is known internationally for Big Gulp fountain soft drinks, Big Bite hot dogs, Slurpee beverages, and Café Select fresh brewed coffee. The stores have expanded their food service offerings with a proprietary line of deli items and baked goods, which are prepared and delivered fresh daily.7-Eleven also offers convenient services based on each neighborhood's individual needs, including automated money orders, copiers, fax and automatic teller machines, long-distance phone cards and lottery tickets, where available.
Approximately 3,200 of the company's 5,300 stores in the United States are operated by franchisees, and an additional 485 are operated by licensees. 7-Eleven, Inc., its licensees and affiliates operate more than 27,900 7-Eleven and other convenience stores in Japan, Australia, Mexico, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada, the Philippines, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea, Thailand, Norway, Turkey, Malaysia, China and the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico and Guam.IYG Holding Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ito-Yokado Co., Ltd. and Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd., has owned a majority interest in 7-Eleven since 1991. Seven-Eleven Japan operates more than 10,000 7-Eleven stores in Japan and Hawaii under an area license agreement with 7-Eleven, Inc.In 2002, 7-Eleven, Inc. celebrated its 75th birthday.
July 11 (7/11) is the official birthday of the 7-Eleven® convenience store chain.In 1927, convenience retailing began simply enough when an employee of Southland Ice Company in Dallas started selling milk, eggs and bread from the ice dock. Soon, the convenience store was born and became known as 7-Eleven to reflect the 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. hours of operation.With approximately 5,800 stores in the United States and Canada and more than 27,900 worldwide, 7-Eleven is the largest convenience retailer in the world.7-Eleven was the first to … operate 24 hours a day … sell fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups ... have a self-serve soda fountain … and offer super-size drinks.
7-Eleven took the No. 1 spot in Restaurants & Institutions magazine’s convenience store concept category in the publication’s 37th annual ranking of the top 400 restaurant concepts by sales. 7-Eleven ranked No. 15 overall in the survey.
7-Eleven has the largest ATM network of any retailer in United States.
First television advertising by any convenience store; the animated commercial featured a singing owl and rooster ran in 1949.
7-Eleven was the first c-store retailer to give customers “freedom of choice†by offering all major soft drink brands at the fountain.
7-Eleven was the first convenience store to sell pre-paid phone cards.
Of all U.S. retailers, 7-Eleven sells the most … USA Today newspapers, Sports Illustrated magazines, cold beer, cold single-serve bottled water, cold Gatorade, fresh-grilled hot dogs, single-serve chips and money orders.
In a four-week period, customers visit a 7-Eleven store an average of 17 times, 80 percent of their total trips to any convenience store.
Nearly one-third of the 6 million people who stop by a 7-Eleven store each day purchase immediately consumable food.
7-Eleven is America’s favorite beverage destination. More than half the customers each day purchase a non-alcoholic beverage.
A typical 7-Eleven store is between 2,400 and 3,000 square feet, and carries about 2,500 different items.
Who? What? Where? Who’s buying the most 7-Eleven stuff? The answer is – the most Slurpee® beverages in the world are purchased in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; and for the United States, it’s Detroit; hot dogs in Washington, D.C., coffee on Long Island, nachos in Colorado, Big Gulp® drinks in Las Vegas and Utah.California has more 7-Eleven stores than any other state – close to 1,200.
Of all its proprietary products, 7-Eleven sells more fresh-brewed coffee than anything else – more than 1 million cups each day. That’s more than 10,000 pots of coffee an hour every hour of every day of the year. In fact, 7-Eleven could serve a cup of coffee to every person in its hometown of Dallas every single day – now that’s a Texas-sized coffee break!
7-Eleven sells close to 100 million fresh-grilled hot dogs every year, more than any other retailer in America, and could feed every person in hot dog-loving Chicago a Big Bite® hot dog each day for a month.
7-Eleven was the first retailer to offer fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups, introducing it in their Northeast stores in 1964.
Beverages – biggest & best: 7-Eleven was the first retailer to introduce self-serve fountain drinks. When the 32-ounce Big Gulp was introduced in 1980, it was the biggest cup on the market. In 1988, 7-Eleven introduced the giant 64-ounce Double Gulp®, the biggest soft drink on the market.
Last year 7-Eleven stores sold almost 33 million gallons of fountain drinks – enough to fill 75 Olympic-size swimming pools.
7-Eleven customers sip and slurp 11.6 million Slurpee® beverages each month. Favorite flavors are Coca-Cola and Minute Maid Cherry. Since its introduction in 1966, close to 6 billion Slurpee drinks have been sold, just about enough for every person on the planet to have slurped.
7-Eleven registered the term “brainfreeze†in 1994 to communicate the painful joy of drinking a frozen Slurpee beverage.
7-Eleven sells 60 million fresh-baked donuts and pastries per year – enough to feed every person in the state of Virginia a dozen donuts!
If you lined up all the World Ovens® bakery items made for 7-Eleven in a year, they would extend almost 6,000 miles – from Boston to San Diego … and back again.
How sweet it is! 7-Eleven uses 365,000 pounds of glaze each month on its donuts, fritters and other pastries.
Most customers want a beverage with their favorite donut – 70 percent choose a cup of 7-Eleven coffee.
Blueberry is at the top of the hill as the best-selling World Ovens® muffin across the country. World Ovens Bakery is 7-Eleven stores’ proprietary line of fresh-baked items.
7-Eleven sells 41 million gallons of milk each year – enough for lots of milk mustaches! And enough to pour more than two glasses of milk for every man, woman and child in the United States.
