7-Eleven to close over 400 store locations in North America

Question

The convenience store chain is closing a chunk of locations due to a reported decline in traffic, a decline in cigarette sales, and the rise of inflation. This news comes amid a bid between the owners of 7-Elevens parent company and Canadian company Alimentation Couche-Tard.

Comments

This article was published on October 12th, 2024, and written by Emma Bowman at NPR.

Answer 1

It's interesting to see how multiple factors, like inflation, changes in consumer behavior, and declining cigarette sales, are influencing the convenience store industry. The competition between large players like 7-Eleven's parent company and Alimentation Couche-Tard adds another layer of complexity to the situation. It raises questions about how these companies will adapt to the shifting market. Do you think they’ll focus more on diversifying their product offerings or perhaps invest in more online and delivery services to stay competitive in the future?

Answer 2

The original article from NPR, written by Emma Bowman claims that over 400 7-eleven stores are going to close throughout North America. To back up this claim I found three separate articles that said very similar things. A CNN article by Jordan Valinsky, an article from Today, written by Alex Portee , and a Providence Journal article written by Seth Jacobson and Betty Lin- Fisher all report the same facts. According to all articles, including the original NPR article, 7-eleven will be closing down 444 of its stores across North America. There are many reasons for this mass closure. The main motivator behind it is "slowing sales, declining traffic, inflationary pressures and a decrease in cigarette purchases." (CNN)  Each article confirms this meaning that the original claim is in fact true.

Comments

After manually looking up all the articles mentioned I can agree that yes 7-Eleven stores are closing. My advice for next time would be to link the articles to make this process much easier. Although the facts are right, better structure for this fact check would legitimize it more. I can tell you're using different colors and fonts and it feels rushed. It also would've been interesting if you did more of a deep dive on this problem, just a mention of how long this has been happening or other stores that might close down soon due to the same reasons.  Something I like to do is look up the reporters. Is this article similar to their work? if it is, they often have links to similar stories that will help with research.

Answer 3

The article states that 444 7-11 stores will be closing down permanently, which is about 3% of the U.S and Canada locations. The author of this article is Emma Bowman, a reporter for NPR (NPR is the publisher of the article). The article claims the cause of the closures is primary do a decrease in both traffic and cigarette sales (which until recently was their highest sales category), as well as inflation. In the same week this article was published, many other news outlets such as ABC, CNN, The Hill, and Today all published articles similar to Bowman’s, using the same statics and data. While all articles confirm the 444 locations will be closing down permanently, they also give hope that the 7-11 company will “continue to invest in food in the United States since its now the highest sale category,” (ABC). This all supports that the claim is indeed true. 

https://abc7ny.com/post/7-eleven-is-closing-more-400-locations-north-america/15421921/

https://www.today.com/food/news/7-eleven-store-closures-us-canada-rcna175323

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/11/business/7-eleven-closures/index.html

https://thehill.com/business/4929426-7-eleven-closing-over-400-locations/