7-Eleven will reportedly close more than 600 stores across North America this year as the company ramps up a multi-year restructuring of its business.
The move follows a period of steady downsizing for the retail giant. Convenience Store Dive reports 7-Eleven has shuttered a combined 700 locations through 2024 and 2025.
The closures appear to be part of a broader plan by parent company Seven & i Holdings to clean up its finances before a planned initial public offering in 2027.
According to its fourth-quarter earning report, the company is moving away from the small, traditional shops of the past, TheStreet reported. Instead, it appears to be betting on larger stores that focus heavily on fresh food and a wider variety of drinks.
Not every location on the list is disappearing though. Some will be turned into “wholesale fuel stores,” a specific category that the company keeps separate from its official retail store count.
The shift reflects a broader change across the convenience store industry, as traditional profit drivers such as tobacco and fuel are being supplemented or replaced by high-margin prepared foods.
Data from NIQ’s 2024 State of Convenience report shows that while these classic categories still matter for the more than 150,000 stores across the country, actual growth is coming from locations that offer better quality and more variety in their food menus.
Regional chains such as Wawa and Sheetz have already proved this model works, successfully rebranding as places to grab a meal, rather than just a quick pit stop.
According to analysts, 7-Eleven is going through a total overhaul of its business model rather than just shrinking its size. On a recent podcast, eMarketer senior retail analyst Blake Doersch said that the company was moving toward a hybrid model that blends a traditional convenience store with a grocery store and a fast-food restaurant.
Doersch pointed out that while 7-Eleven is still opening new locations, it has closed more stores than it has opened over the last two years. This suggests the company is now prioritizing the quality and design of its stores over simply having the most locations.
The financial pressure on the brand has been building for several years.
In 2024, 7-Eleven announced it would shutter 444 underperforming stores, or about 3 percent of its North American base, to recoup costs. While only 227 of those locations officially closed by the end of that year, the rest were phased out through 2025. At the time, as reported by OPB.org, the company cited a combination of weaker foot traffic and shifting consumer behaviors influenced by economic headwinds.
Despite these challenges, the industry’s move into food seems to be paying off.
According to the NACS 2023 State of the Industry Report, sales of prepared foods jumped 12 percent across the sector in a single year. Convenience Store Dive reported that 7-Eleven is leaning into this trend by swapping out its struggling older shops for new, food-focused designs that are better suited to how people shop today.
7-Eleven did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.
