3 Big Numbers is a weekly column that looks at a few key details from around the c-store industry.
In its third-quarter earnings update earlier this week, Seven & i Holdings shared progress on several major initiatives as well as its financial results and the evolving look of its retail footprint.
Today, we’re digging into that last topic.
At the end of fiscal Q3, 7-Eleven had 12,765 stores in North America, but the retailer has recently been closing more stores than it opens each quarter. For instance, in Q3, the company opened 25 locations and closed 44. The difference was even more stark in the second quarter, when it opened 30 stores and closed 155.
7-Eleven shared a little more about the makeup of these sites. In this week’s “3 Big Numbers,” we dig into how 7-Eleven’s footprint is shifting.
212
The year-over-year reduction in the number of 7-Elevens stores that sell fuel.
In the fall of 2024, 7-Eleven said in a presentation that it saw larger, food-forward stores that also sold fuel as the way forward. So it was interesting to note that the number of stores with fuel dropped from 8,407 at this time last year to 8,195 at the end of fiscal Q3.
What can we take from this? Perhaps not much. Aside from the presence of fuel, there’s no other information on these stores. They could have been underperforming, or too small to work with 7-Eleven’s future plans, or the company may have just gotten a good offer for some of them.
But it is interesting to note that even while 7-Eleven extolls the value of fuel, it isn’t hesitating to get rid of sites that have it..
56.5%
The share of 7-Elevens that are franchise locations.
7-Eleven has a mix of company-owned and franchised stores in North America. And as of the end of its Q3, franchised stores make up 56.5% of the overall store count, up from 55% during this period last year. At more than half of the company’s sites, the franchised side of 7-Eleven by itself would still be one of the biggest c-store chains in the U.S. by store count.
Seven & i is looking to IPO its North American operations later this year. If that does happen, it’ll be interesting to see if that shift affects the approach to franchising.
863
7-Eleven’s wholesale sites in fiscal Q3.
The main image of 7-Eleven is a convenience store which may or may not offer fuel on site. But 7-Eleven also has a wholesale segment, with 863 locations operating at the end of fiscal Q3. That’s an increase of 16% year over year.
7-Eleven distributes fuel through subsidiary SEI Fuels and sells over a billion gallons annually across 37 states, according to its website.
That 16% growth is nothing to sneeze at. As the company’s potential IPO approaches, the growing wholesale arm gives it another avenue for growth.
