7-Eleven Plans to Shutter Hundreds of North American Stores This Year

Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese parent company of 7-Eleven, disclosed in an April 9, 2026 financial filing that 645 7-Eleven locations across North America are slated for closure during its fiscal year 2026, which began in March [1][2]. The company plans to open roughly 205 new stores during the same period, meaning a net reduction of approximately 440 locations [3]. By the end of the fiscal year, the number of 7-Eleven convenience stores in North America is projected to fall to about 12,272 — down from more than 13,000 as recently as 2024 [4].

This is not a one-year blip. The chain closed more than 600 locations across 2024 and 2025 combined [1]. Fiscal 2026 will mark the fifth consecutive year that 7-Eleven has shuttered more stores than it opened [4].

Source: Seven & i Holdings Annual Reports

Data as of Apr 9, 2026CSV

The Numbers: 645 Closures, But What Kind?

Seven & i's filing noted that the 645 figure "includes the conversion to wholesale fuel stores" [1]. That distinction matters. 7-Eleven has been steadily building out a network of wholesale fuel locations — sites that sell gasoline but no longer carry the full convenience-store format. As of December 2025, the company operated more than 900 such wholesale fuel stores in North America [2]. Some of the 645 "closures" are therefore conversions rather than outright shutdowns, though the company has not broken out how many fall into each category.

Seven & i did not disclose which specific locations will close [5]. 7-Eleven operates in 30 U.S. states, and the lack of a public closure list has drawn criticism from both franchisees and local officials who say communities deserve advance notice [5].

What's Driving the Closures

Three structural forces are converging on the convenience store industry, and 7-Eleven is absorbing all three simultaneously.

Fuel margins are eroding. Gasoline has historically been the traffic driver for convenience stores — customers pull in for fuel and buy a coffee or snack inside. But fuel margins typically run below 2%, and the number of fuel transactions has been flat or declining [6]. Electric vehicle adoption is accelerating: in a 2025 NACS survey, 27% of convenience store operators named EVs as the top threat to fuel demand, ahead of fuel-efficiency gains and remote work [6]. Though EVs remain a small share of the total fleet, the trajectory is clear enough that 84% of retailers say EV charging will factor into their long-term strategy [6].

Tobacco sales are declining. Cigarettes and other tobacco products were once a core profit center for convenience stores. Adult smoking rates have fallen steadily for decades, and in a 2025 industry survey, the biggest threat to the tobacco category was consumers smoking less (cited by 25.5% of respondents), followed by excise taxes (25%) [7]. For 7-Eleven, which built much of its footprint around fuel-and-tobacco traffic, the decline hits harder than it does for chains that entered the market with different product mixes.

Consumer spending is shifting. Seven & i's own April 2025 annual report acknowledged that "personal consumption also began to soften, particularly among low-income households, as inflation continued to weigh on spending" [5]. Foot traffic at convenience stores has not fully recovered to pre-pandemic levels in many markets, and lower-income consumers — a significant share of 7-Eleven's customer base — have pulled back on impulse purchases.

The Speedway Hangover

Much of 7-Eleven's current position traces back to one deal: its $21 billion acquisition of Speedway from Marathon Petroleum in May 2021 [8]. The transaction added roughly 3,900 Speedway locations across 35 states and made 7-Eleven the dominant convenience store chain in North America by store count [8].

The deal came with a 15-year fuel supply agreement covering about 7.7 billion gallons per year [8]. At the time, 7-Eleven projected it would achieve $475 million to $575 million in annual synergies by the third year post-close [9]. Speedway's pre-acquisition EBITDA was approximately $1.5 billion [9].

But the acquisition also loaded Seven & i's balance sheet with debt. The company's debt-to-equity ratio has risen from 42.1% to 75.2% over the past five years, with total debt reaching ¥2,715.9 billion (roughly $18 billion) [10]. While the company's interest payments remain well-covered by operating earnings at 9.7x EBIT coverage [10], the debt burden has constrained investment and made portfolio rationalization — industry jargon for closing underperforming stores — a financial imperative rather than a strategic luxury.

Rivals Are Expanding. 7-Eleven Is Contracting.

The contrast with competitors is stark. While 7-Eleven plans a net reduction of 440 stores in fiscal 2026, Casey's General Stores expects to open at least 80 new locations [11]. Casey's added 270 locations to its network in fiscal 2025, driven partly by its $1.145 billion acquisition of Fikes Wholesale and its 198 CEFCO stores [11]. Wawa is planning 240 new stores across six states, with eight to twelve new locations annually in Indiana alone [12]. Sheetz and Buc-ee's are also expanding [13].

Source: CSP Daily News, Company Reports

Data as of Apr 14, 2026CSV

The divergence raises a question: is 7-Eleven's contraction a company-specific problem, or does it reflect broader industry headwinds?

The answer is both. The structural pressures — declining fuel demand, falling tobacco sales, shifting consumer habits — affect the entire sector. But competitors like Casey's, Wawa, and Sheetz have responded by building larger-format stores centered on prepared food, made-to-order meals, and specialty beverages [13]. These chains either never had 7-Eleven's legacy exposure to small-format fuel-and-tobacco stores or entered the market with food-first strategies from the start.

7-Eleven is trying to catch up. The company's "food-forward" store concept, which features expanded kitchens and seating areas, is producing results: 7-Eleven president Stan Reynolds said on a recent earnings call that food-forward locations are generating average daily sales roughly 18% higher than the chain's system average [14]. But retrofitting thousands of legacy stores — many of them former Speedway locations built for fuel traffic — is expensive and slow.

The Couche-Tard Shadow

Seven & i's restructuring is taking place against the backdrop of a bruising takeover fight. Alimentation Couche-Tard, the Canadian parent company of Circle K and the world's largest convenience store operator by revenue, spent nearly a year pursuing a buyout of Seven & i that topped $47 billion at its peak [15].

Couche-Tard initially offered $14.86 per share, valuing Seven & i at $38.5 billion [15]. Seven & i rejected the bid. Couche-Tard raised its offer; the two companies signed a non-disclosure agreement giving Couche-Tard access to Seven & i's financials [16]. Couche-Tard even proposed a partial deal — acquiring everything outside Japan while taking a 40% stake in the Japanese operations, where convenience stores are considered critical infrastructure because of their disaster-response role [15].

The bid collapsed in July 2025, with Couche-Tard citing a "persistent lack of good faith engagement" from Seven & i's leadership [15]. A rival "white knight" bid from the Ito family, Seven & i's founders, valued the company at $58 billion but fell apart when financing could not be secured [15].

The failed takeover left Seven & i independent but under pressure to prove it can generate shareholder value on its own. Closing underperforming stores and boosting per-store profitability is a direct answer to that pressure. The company had originally planned an IPO of its North American operations for 2026, but has pushed that timeline back to 2027 or later, citing market conditions [17]. Cleaning up the store portfolio — and presenting better per-store economics — is widely understood as preparation for that listing [14].

The Bull Case: Rational Pruning, Not Panic

Analysts who cover Seven & i have generally endorsed the closure strategy. Blake Droesch, a senior retail analyst at eMarketer, described the move as "a fundamental re-wiring of the brand," arguing that 7-Eleven is "completely shifting their business model from just convenience store to convenience store, plus restaurant or food service outlet plus grocery" [14].

The financial logic is straightforward. Closing stores that generate below-average revenue while investing in higher-performing food-forward locations should improve the chain's per-store economics. Analysts project a 3-5% improvement in overall profitability once the closures are complete [14]. Seven & i's most recent nine-month results showed net income up 229.2% year-over-year to ¥49 billion, driven partly by gains from asset sales [10].

The company's global ambitions remain large. Seven & i's transformation plan calls for opening 1,300 new stores in North America and 1,000 in Japan by fiscal year 2031 [17]. The closures are meant to clear space — both financially and operationally — for that expansion.

The Bear Case: Franchisees, Workers, and Communities

The optimistic read on portfolio rationalization overlooks several constituencies who bear the costs.

Franchisees. 7-Eleven's franchise model has long been contentious. Franchise fees range from $180,000 to $800,000 per store [18]. When a franchise is terminated, 7-Eleven retains the franchise fee and can resell the license to a new operator [18]. Franchisees who have been pushed out report receiving no compensation for the equity they built over years of operation [18]. A 2021 class action settlement in Australia resulted in a $98 million payout to franchisees [19], but U.S. franchisees have found less success in court. A New Jersey lawsuit claimed the franchise program was effectively an employment arrangement, not a genuine independent business opportunity [20], and Massachusetts franchisees challenged their independent contractor status — only to lose at the state Supreme Judicial Court in September 2024 [21].

With 645 closures on the horizon, franchisees whose stores are selected for shutdown face the prospect of losing their investment with limited legal recourse. Seven & i has not disclosed what transition support, if any, will be offered to affected franchise owners.

Workers. The company has not released figures on how many employees will be displaced. A typical 7-Eleven store employs between eight and fifteen people, most of them hourly workers. Using a conservative estimate of ten employees per store, the 645 closures could affect roughly 6,450 jobs — though some workers may transfer to surviving locations.

Community access. In some neighborhoods, particularly lower-income, rural, and transit-dependent areas, a 7-Eleven may function as the most accessible source of basic food and household goods. The company has not mapped its closure list against census data on income or food access. No independent analysis of whether closures disproportionately affect underserved communities has been published, largely because 7-Eleven has not released the list of affected locations [5]. This lack of transparency makes it impossible to assess the equity implications of the closures.

Legal Exposure

7-Eleven's franchise litigation history suggests the closures could generate new legal challenges. Franchisees have previously sued the company for unilateral terminations without notice, seizure of equipment, and harassment intended to pressure operators into surrendering their franchises [18][20]. Multiple law firms specializing in franchise law have represented 7-Eleven operators in disputes over termination procedures and projected earnings disclosures [20].

Whether the current round of closures triggers new lawsuits will depend partly on how 7-Eleven handles the termination process — whether it provides adequate notice, honors contractual obligations, and offers fair terms to departing franchisees. The company's track record on these points is mixed at best.

What Happens Next

Seven & i is betting that a smaller, more focused 7-Eleven — with fewer stores but higher per-store revenue, stronger food offerings, and a cleaner balance sheet for an eventual IPO — will be worth more than the sprawling, fuel-dependent network it inherited from the Speedway deal. The market will render its verdict when the North American IPO eventually proceeds, now likely in 2027 [17].

In the meantime, 645 stores will go dark. Behind each one is a set of workers losing shifts, franchisees losing investments, and communities losing a place to buy milk at midnight. Whether the tradeoff is worth it depends on which side of the closed door you're standing on.