7-Eleven To Double US Stores In Massive North American Expansion

Prepare for a lot more 7-Eleven convenience stores.

Seven & I Holdings Co. (TYO:3382), the Slurpee maker’s Japanese parent company, is planning more acquisitions of stores in the U.S. and may double its North American outlets, Bloomberg reported.

The company “could increase our store number to 20,000 or even 30,000,” Chairman Toshifumi Suzuki told Bloomberg on Monday. It currently owns 8,000 outlets in North America.

Suzuki did not specify a timeline for the expansion, but plans to open 10,000 stores in North America as early as 2014.

Seven & I bought 662 convenience stores in North America in its last fiscal year.

7-Eleven Inc. has been expanding voraciously in the last two years.

In 2011, 4,600 stores opened worldwide. The chain began targeting U.S. urban markets, such as New York City and Charlotte, N.C., in 2012 as it sought to replicate the success seen in places like Tokyo and Taipei.

The company started in Dallas in 1927 selling ice blocks, but is now headquartered in Japan, where it has the largest presence, with more than 50,000 stores.