7-Eleven history

Southland ice docks began selling gasoline in 1928, again appealing to what the customer needed.

In 1930 C.M. (“Dad”) Joiner discovered the great East Texas oil field, which attracted investment and made the city a major centre of the petroleum industry.

Joe C. Thompson, Sr., became president of Southland Ice in 1931.

Either after the merger, or shortly before it, one of the icehouses also began selling food items. It emerged with a new emphasis on food and drink, especially after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, when beer and liquor were first offered for sale.

Once it was on more stable footing, Southland began vertical integration with construction of Oak Farms Dairies in 1936, using public relations to market its new dairy products by offering a free movie for six of its milk bottle caps.

1939:Company is operating 60 Tote'm Stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Rapid Postwar Expansion: 1945-69

In 1946 the stores were renamed 7-Eleven to call attention to their extended hours of operation—from 7:00 am to 11:00 pm, seven days a week.

To meet demands for block ice, Southland bought Texas Public Utilities, which owned 20 ice plants, in 1947, making Southland the largest ice operator in Texas.

In 1948 Joseph Thompson's oldest son, John P. Thompson, was named to the board of directors.

Asda history and corporate video "Asda History Asda Stores Limited was founded as Associated Dairies & Farm Stores Limited in 1949 in Leeds.

A top global wholesale market, the city is the home of the Dallas Market Center (1957), one of the world’s largest wholesale merchandise complexes.

The city is known for its cultural activities, including opera, ballet, musicals, and symphony concerts; a notable facility is the Kalita Humphreys Theater (1959; part of the Dallas Theater Center), designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Joseph Thompson’s son, John P. Thompson, became president in 1961 and further expanded operations in the United States and elsewhere.

The unprecedented expansion began with dairy acquisitions, notably Midwest Dairy Products in 1962, with production plants and branches in Illinois, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Alabama.

7-Eleven capitalized on this idea and grew to 1,000 stores by 1963.

The sensational semi-frozen carbonated beverage was originally introduced as “Icee” in 1965 and later re-launched as a Slurpee drink by 7-Eleven’s ad agency.

The company signed its first area licensing agreement in 1968 with Garb-Ko, Inc. of Saginaw, Michigan, which became the first United States domestic area 7-Eleven licensee.

Expanding Around the Globe By the end of 1969, 7-Eleven was better known for Slurpee drinks and grew to approximately 3,500 stores in the United States and went international by opening stores in Canada.

Acquisitions and Foreign Expansion: 1970-86

1971:Sales reach $1 billion.

1973:Area license for Japan is granted to Ito-Yokado Co., Ltd.

In 1974, the company reached its 5,000th-store milestone, and continued its international expansion overseas in Japan.Self-Service Transformed the Convenience Industry As work routines and leisure lives continued to change, self-service was key in the changing needs of time-pressed customers.

Dallas became well known in popular culture as the setting for the eponymous television drama series (originally broadcast 1978–91); the ranch where the show was filmed is now a tourist attraction and convention centre.

1983:Citgo Petroleum Corporation is acquired for $780 million.

Profits in 1985 exceeded the previous year's loss by $20 million, but nevertheless, Southland cut Citgo's petroleum production in half, expecting Citgo's Lake Charles, Louisiana refinery to be unprofitable.

The company sold off 50 percent of its stake in CITGO in 1986.

The buyout, which involved the formation of a temporary holding company called JT Acquisitions, was completed on July 6, 1987.

By the end of 1988 Southland had completed a series of divestitures to streamline operations.

In October 1990, the heavily indebted Southland Corp. filed a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to transfer control of 70% of the company to Japanese affiliate Ito-Yokado.

Southland exited bankruptcy in March 1991, after a cash infusion of $430 million from Ito-Yokado and Seven-Eleven Japan.

Also in 1992, Southland decided to leave the distribution and food processing business to focus on its core business, 7-Eleven.

Perhaps the most important element of the 7-Eleven overhaul in the United States was the implementation of a chainwide proprietary retail information system, the development of which began in 1994.

Having already gained the position as the United States retailer with the most ATM machines, Southland began offering prepaid phone cards in 1995 and quickly became a leading seller of money orders.

The acquisitions included two that closed in May 1998: the purchase of Massachusetts-based Christy's Markets, Inc., an operator of 135 convenience stores in New England; and that of 20 red D mart convenience stores in South Bend, Indiana, which were purchased from MDK Corporation of Goshen, Indiana.

In 1999, Southland Corp. changed its name to 7-Eleven, Inc., citing the divestment of operations other than 7-Eleven.

Continuing to expand, the company opened its 25,000th convenience store in 2003.

Speedy Rewards®, launched in 2004, allows Speedway customers to earn points on both merchandise and fuel purchases.

In 2005, Seven-Eleven Japan made a tender offer and 7-Eleven, Inc. became its wholly owned subsidiary.

For the 2010 rankings, 7-Eleven climbed to the No.

Launched in 2015, 7Rewards® is 7‑Eleven’s best-in-class loyalty program where customers are rewarded for every dollar spent.

In January 2018, 7‑Eleven acquired 1,030 Stripes Stores.

7‑Eleven held on to its number one spot from 2020 due to its exponential growth over the last year, including the recent Speedway acquisition, Evolution Store and restaurant concept expansion.

In May 2021, 7‑Eleven acquired 3,800 Speedway Stores from Marathon Petroleum Corp., increasing 7‑Eleven’s total number of stores to more than 13,000 in the United States and Canada and allowing 7‑Eleven to bring convenience to more customers than ever before.