7-Eleven owner sets sights on Europe as fourth core market
Seven & i CEO Steve Dacus sees room to grow beyond the chain’s roughly 360 Nordic stores, after exiting India and dropping its Zabka bid.
Seven & i Holdings wants to make Europe the fourth core market for 7-Eleven, alongside Japan, North America and Asia, CEO Steve Dacus told Nikkei Asia. He sees the region as underrepresented in the company’s network. 7-Eleven has around 360 stores in Europe, all in Nordic countries such as Norway and Finland.
Dacus’ comments follow 7-Eleven’s exit from India, where licensee Reliance Retail closed the last 31 stores by the end of September amid strong local competition. Seven & i is also reviewing its Asian operations, including a possible return to Indonesia. In July, it abandoned a bid for a stake in Poland’s Zabka Group over valuation and terms.
Under its medium-term plan through fiscal 2030, Seven & i expects to invest about ¥3.2 trillion ($20.2 billion) in growth worldwide. It aims to expand the 7-Eleven network by 14% to around 100,000 stores, up from about 87,000 in 19 countries and territories at the end of August.
North America is still the group’s main source of overseas profit and contributes more than half of its operating profit. The US unit, led by Mauricio Leyva since August, plans to open 1,300 stores and remodel more than 7,000 by 2030. At the same time, it is closing unprofitable sites and aims to double private-label sales from fiscal 2025 levels.
