Toshifumi Suzuki, the man who built 7-Eleven into a global success, has died

Toshifumi Suzuki, who is considered the father of the “konbini” or Japanese convenience store, has died at the age of 93. He was not the founder of 7-Eleven, but he did turn the chain into a global success.

The world’s largest convenience store chain

The former chairman of Seven & i Holdings, the group that owns 7-Eleven, died on May 18 of heart failure, the company announced last Monday. Toshifumi Suzuki can be called a legend of modern retail: after all, he was instrumental in the global success of the well-known convenience store chain, which, with 85,000 locations in some twenty countries, is the largest in the world.

He was not, however, the founder of 7-Eleven, but together with the retail group Ito-Yokado (now a subsidiary of Seven & i Holdings) and in partnership with the American Southland Corporation, he did open the first Japanese store in Tokyo in May 1974. When the American owner of the brand ran into financial difficulties in the 1990s, the Japanese group took control.

Wide range of services

Although Japan already had a dense network of neighborhood stores, the chain became an unprecedented success thanks to an extremely efficiently organized logistics chain, a wide range of services, and extended hours, seven days a week. The stores not only sold and continue to sell fresh food, beverages, ready-to-eat meals, sandwiches, and toiletries, but were also the first to offer services such as bill payment, photo printing, and package shipping. Thus, 7-Eleven became the quintessential example of the Japanese convenience store, or so-called “konbini,” a term derived from the English word “convenience.”

Toshifumi Suzuki’s influence on 7-Eleven’s global success is undeniable. In 2016, the visionary CEO stepped down from the group. In recent years, the parent company has faced pressure from shareholders due to declining profits. A takeover bid by the Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard was rejected. Last year, the group announced substantial investments, with plans to open 1,300 new locations in North America and 1,000 in Japan over the next five years.