Japan's 7-Eleven store chain founder Suzuki passes away

Mr. Toshifumi Suzuki, the renowned entrepreneur who revolutionized Japan's retail sector by making the 7-Eleven convenience store chain an essential part of the daily lives of the country's people, has passed away. The Seven & i company, which operated under his advisory, confirmed that the cause of death for Mr. Suzuki, who was 93 years old at the time of his passing, was a heart attack.

Mr. Suzuki, who led this business empire for over four decades, made a unique contribution to growing a single small store in Tokyo into a massive global business with thousands of branches worldwide.

His business journey began when he joined Ito-Yokado, a leading retail company in Japan. There, Mr. Suzuki became interested in the American 7-Eleven store chain, and when he attempted to introduce this concept to the Japanese market, which was dominated by small-scale traditional stores, he faced strong criticism and skepticism from many. However, guided by his life philosophy of "adapting to change," Mr. Suzuki persevered, and in 1974, in accordance with an agreement made with the American Southland company in 1973, he opened the first Japanese 7-Eleven store in the Toyosu area of Tokyo.

This store chain, which started with American food products, grew to 100 branches within two years. In 1975, he introduced a 24-hour operating service model to Japan, using a store in Fukushima Prefecture as a model. Not stopping there, Mr. Suzuki also brought about a technological revolution by introducing a computerized system (POS system) for inventory management in the Japanese retail sector for the first time. Over time, by acquiring shares in the Southland company, he succeeded in making this business entirely Japanese-owned by 2005.

Mr. Suzuki worked to popularize traditional Japanese foods such as Bento boxes and Rice balls through convenience stores. Later, he integrated the 7-Eleven brand into people's daily lives by bringing a wide range of services under one roof, including banking services, parcel delivery services, bill payment facilities, and fresh coffee sales. Due to this exceptional business acumen, he was also known in the industry as the "god of retail," and by 2015, the network had expanded to over 55,000 stores worldwide. However, due to certain controversial situations and a lack of confidence within the company's management, he resigned from his position in 2016 and served only as an honorary advisor.

After Mr. Suzuki's departure, Seven & i company diversified into various business sectors, but due to not achieving the expected profits from them, it has recently faced a severe economic downturn and a $47 billion acquisition threat from a Canadian competitor. The current CEO, Mr. Stephen Dacus, is making plans to revitalize the company by expanding its business into foreign markets, and he hopes to rekindle the unique creative business vision and innovative spirit that Mr. Suzuki possessed within the company.