7-Eleven has closed nearly 450 stores across North America due to poor performance

About 450 7-Eleven stores across North America are closing due to underperformance, according to the company.

Seven & I Holdings, the Japan-based parent company of 7-Eleven, announced in an earnings report Thursday that 444 7-Eleven stores are closing due to declining sales, particularly cigarette sales, as well as declining traffic and inflation.

The list of stores to be closed has not been released.

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7-Eleven has 13,000 stores across the US and Canada, meaning the closing will affect only 3% of the company’s portfolio.

The convenience store chain has experienced six consecutive months of declining traffic, including a 7.3% drop in August.

“The North American economy remains strong thanks to high-wage consumption, despite continued inflation, rising interest rates and a deteriorating employment situation,” Seven & I Holdings said in an inflation statement. “In this context, there was a very smart way to spend, especially for low-income and low-income people.”

Seven & I Holdings (Getty Images / Getty Images)

The series highlighted that sales of cigarettes, once the biggest category of sales in convenience stores, have fallen by 26% since 2019 and that the shift to sales of other nicotine products has failed to make a significant difference.

The company said it will transform its stores to focus on food, which is already its best-selling category.

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7-Eleven (Getty Images / Getty Images)

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Seven & I Holdings strives to be “a world-class food-focused retail group that leads to retail innovation with global growth strategies focused on 7-Eleven’s business and rapid technology adoption,” the company said.

In July, the convenience store said it would also sell popular international foods, including milk, bread, egg sandwiches and miso ramen, in its US stores.