(Bloomberg) — 7-Eleven convenience stores perfected their model in Japan, where diverse, fresh-food offerings attract locals and tourists alike. But the company, which had its start long ago in the US, has struggled to replicate that success elsewhere—particularly in the country where it was born.
Now a new player believes it can do a better job at creating a global convenience store empire. Canadian company Couche-Tard, owner of Circle K stores, has made an unsolicited bid to buy Seven & i Holdings, the parent of 7-Eleven. On the Bloomberg Originals mini-documentary Why There’s a Battle to Own 7-Eleven, we discuss how the famous chain had its start and why its Japanese locations are so different from those in the US.
The proposed deal for the convenience store chain would be the biggest foreign takeover of a Japanese company in history. But residual resistance to foreign corporations, and 7-Eleven’s place in modern Japanese culture, could make the deal a hard sell. Still, while Seven & i has been slow to engage with Couche-Tard, it recently signed a non-disclosure agreement to share financial data.
In Why There’s a Battle to Own 7-Eleven, we show how a complicated dance of shipping and supply enable Japanese 7-Eleven stores to stock fresh food in a way that isn’t the case in the US. And while American 7-Eleven stores have been trying to up their game, that country’s geography and different ownership structures may mean stores there—and elsewhere—will have a hard time emulating the Japanese model.
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