According to the firm, some 450 7-Eleven locations in North America are closing due to underperformance.
The parent company of 7-Eleven, Seven & I Holdings, located in Japan, said in its earnings report on Thursday that 444 7-Eleven locations are closing due to a decline in sales, especially in cigarettes, as well as lower traffic and inflation.
It was not made public which stores will be shutting. With 13,000 locations in the US and Canada, 7-Eleven’s portfolio would only be impacted by the closures in 3% of cases.
The chain of convenience stores has seen a drop in visitation for six months running, with August seeing a 7.3% reduction.
“The North American economy remained robust overall thanks to the consumption of high-income earners, despite a persistently inflationary, elevated interest rate and deteriorating employment environment,” Seven & I Holdings stated. “In this context, there was a more prudent approach to consumption, particularly among middle- and low-income earners.”
The chain emphasized that sales of cigarettes, which were formerly the convenience store industry’s biggest revenue category, have decreased by 26% since 2019 and that switching to alternative nicotine products hasn’t had much of an impact.
Food is currently the category with the largest sales, thus the company said that it will change its stores to make food the focal point.
“A world-class retail group centered around its food that leads retail innovation through global growth strategies centered on the 7-Eleven business and proactive utilization of technology” is the stated goal of Seven & I Holdings, according to the firm.
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The convenience store chain said in July that it would start offering popular foreign foods like milk, bread, egg sandwiches, and miso ramen at its U.S. locations.
