Seven Eleven Philadelphia 1

I took this photograph while sitting in my sister's car while she went into a Philadelphia filling station shop to pick up some coffee. The... more

by Sarah Loft

Title

Seven Eleven Philadelphia 1

Artist

Sarah Loft

Medium

Photograph

Description

I took this photograph while sitting in my sister's car while she went into a Philadelphia filling station shop to pick up some coffee. The reflection of wires and signs on the glass window caught my eye.

Per Wikipedia: 7-Eleven Inc. is a Japanese-owned American international chain of convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was known as Tote'm Stores until it was renamed in 1946. Its parent company, Seven-Eleven Japan Co., Ltd., operates, franchises, and licenses 66,579 stores in 17 countries as of 30 June 2018. Seven-Eleven Japan is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo and held by the Seven & I Holdings Co.

In 1927, Southland Ice Company employee John Jefferson Green began selling eggs, milk, and bread from one of 16 ice house storefronts in Dallas, with permission from one of Southland's founding directors, Joe C. Thompson, Sr. Although small grocery stores and general merchandisers were available, Thompson theorized that selling products such as bread and milk in convenience stores would reduce the need for customers to travel long distances for basic items. He eventually bought the Southland Ice Company and turned it into Southland Corporation, which oversaw several locations in the Dallas area.

In 1946, in an effort to continue the company's post-war recovery, the name of the franchise was changed to 7-Eleven to reflect the stores' new hours of operation (7 am to 11 pm), which were unprecedented at the time.

In December 1987, John Philp Thompson, the chairman and CEO of 7-Eleven, completed a $5.2 billion management buyout of the company. The buyout suffered from the effects of the 1987 stock market crash and after failing initially to raise high yield debt financing, the company was required to offer a portion of stock as an inducement to invest in the company's bonds.

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.

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Uploaded

September 19th, 2018