444 ‘Underperforming’ 7-Eleven Stores to Be Closed After Sales Drop

More than 400 North American 7-Eleven locations are slated for closure after “underperforming” during the second quarter of FY 2024, company officials announced in a recent earnings report.

In its “store performance optimization” improvements outlined in the Friday report, 7-Eleven’s Japanese parent company, Seven & i Holdings, said 444 stores will be shut down.

The company did not publicly specify which locations would be closed, with 13,000 stores located across the U.S. and Canada and over 21,000 in Japan, according to a business report from Fox 5 San Diego. 

The closures would impact about 3 percent of the company’s portfolio, the outlet noted.

“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. In this context, there was a more prudent approach to consumption, particularly among middle- and low-income earners,” Seven & i said in a summarized report.

Traffic and merchandise sales were “challenged as consumers pull back due to inflationary pressure,” the company said, highlighting that the cigarette industry is especially declining. 

Cigarette sales — one of the top categories for convenience stores — have declined 26 percent since 2019, the report stated.

The impending 7-Eleven closures were announced just months after the California-based chain 99 Cents Only said that all 371 locations would be shutting down, with company executives blaming the “difficult” decision on factors like “inflationary pressures.”

Back in March, Dollar Tree announced that approximately 1,000 stores — mostly Family Dollar locations — were scheduled for closure after “botched” business decisions and a “surprise fourth-quarter loss,” Breitbart News reported.