is a Japanese convenience store chain headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Seven & I Holdings. The company was established in 1973 as by the supermarket chain Ito-Yokado in collaboration with Southland Corporation, now known as 7-Eleven, Inc, an American convenience store chain. As of 2022, Seven-Eleven is the largest convenience store chain in Japan in terms of sales and number of stores. Additionally, it is one of the largest retail chains in Japan in terms of sales. In 2004, it acquired full ownership of the original 7-Eleven, Inc.
History
On August 28, 1973, Ito-Yokado announced a licensing agreement with Southland Corporation, an American convenience store chain known as 7-Eleven, to develop convenience stores in Japan. The agreement granted Ito-Yokado the franchise rights to establish a network of convenience stores. They aimed to expand the convenience store chain within approximately two years and set a goal of reaching 2,000 to 3,000 stores with a minimum target of 1,500 stores. In November 1973, the convenience store company York Seven was established.
In May 1974, the first-ever store in Japan opened in Toyosu, Kōtō, Tokyo. This marked the debut of the first full-fledged franchise convenience store in Japan. In June of the following year, the first 24-hour operation was introduced at a store in Kōriyama, Fukushima Prefecture.
In January, 1978, York Seven changed its corporate name to Seven-Eleven Japan.
In 1987, SEJ partnered with Tokyo Electric Power Company to enable electricity bill payments at 1,600 stores in Tokyo and later in eight neighboring prefectures. In 1988, it became possible to make payments for Tokyo Gas at Seven-Eleven stores, and in 1989, payments for Dai-ichi Life Insurance and NHK were also made available.
In October 1979, SEJ went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Second Section, and in August 1981, it was designated for listing on the TSE First Section.
As of January 1988, the number of Seven-Eleven stores was 3,251, with 2,200 of those stores located in the greater Tokyo area, which include nine prefectures.
On November 14, 1989, SEJ announced that it had reached a basic agreement to acquire all 57 Seven-Eleven stores in Hawaii from the Southland Corporation for 75 million dollars (approximately 16 billion yen). Southland Corporation had become a target of a takeover by an investor group around 1986, and to counter this, the Thompson family spent approximately 5 billion dollars (710 billion yen) to repurchase all of their own shares starting from 1987. However, the burden of debt became significant, leading to the "piecemeal sale" of the Hawaii stores. As a result, SEJ is scheduled to acquire all the assets, including land, buildings, and business rights, of the 57 stores in Hawaii.
On March 22, the following year, SEJ announced once again that it had reached a basic agreement to acquire the Southland Corporation. With the cooperation of creditors, it was agreed that the Yokado Group would acquire 75% of Southland Corporation's shares for a total of 400 million dollars (approximately 60 billion yen). As a prerequisite for the acquisition, SEJ intended to recover Southland Corporation's junk bonds (totaling 1.8 billion dollars) from bondholders and exchange them for new low-interest corporate bonds and common stock. However, some bondholders resisted parting with high-yield junk bonds, making the recovery difficult. After several negotiation deadline extensions, SEJ revealed on October 24 that it had applied to the U.S. bankruptcy court for the implementation of Southland Corporation's restructuring plan. The court approved the restructuring plan, and on March 6, 1991, SEJ announced the completion of the acquisition process, purchasing 70% of the company's stock for 430 million dollars (approximately 56 billion yen).
On August 24, 1995, SEJ announced its full-scale expansion into the Kansai region, with Osaka as the central location. While SEJ had the largest number of stores nationwide in the convenience store industry, they employed a strategy of concentrating store openings in specific regions to streamline operations. Prior to this announcement, SEJ had only opened stores in Kyoto, Shiga, and certain parts of Osaka Prefecture in the Kansai region.