TOKYO (AP) — Toshifumi Suzuki, the Japanese businessman credited with creating the 7-Eleven convenience-chain global retail empire, has died. He was 93.
Suzuki, an honorary adviser at Seven & i Holdings, died on May 18 of heart failure at his Tokyo home, the company said Monday.
Suzuki founded the Japanese unit that operates the seemingly ubiquitous 7-Eleven “conbini” outlets, where busy people can hop in and grab sandwiches, rice balls, drinks, chips and other meals on-the-run, use ATMs, pay utility bills and copy documents.
The 7-Eleven stores, now numbering more than 80,000 worldwide, are the biggest convenience-store chain in Japan.
The business started out in Japan under a franchise agreement with the U.S. 7-Eleven in 1973. The first store opened in Japan the following year.
After The Southland Corp., which founded 7-Eleven, ran into financial difficulties the Japanese company bought a majority stake in the 1990’s. It made the American counterpart its 100% owned group company in 2005.
Several years ago, the Canadian retailer Alimentation Couche-Tard, which runs the global Circle K convenience store chain, sought to take over Seven & i Holdings. But it dropped the effort in 2024, citing frustration with negotiations that showed “a lack of constructive engagement.”
Suzuki, born in Nagano Prefecture, northern Japan, in 1932, graduated from the prestigious Chuo University in Tokyo.
Before beginning his career in the convenience store business, he worked at Ito-Yokado, a major Japanese retail chain that sells a variety of products including groceries, cosmetics and clothing, which is also owned by Seven and i Holdings.
Apart from leading 7-Eleven, Suzuki engineered the acquisition of Barney’s Japan in 2015 and added banking functions to the empire.
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