Why 7-Eleven Is a National Treasure in Japan

In Japan, convenience stores are celebrated. Clean and bright, they are stocked with fresh and affordable lunchboxes, steamed buns and stews in the winter. The celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain once called them “the one vice” he couldn’t give up.

For many residents, the more than 55,000 cheerful, jingle-filled stores, known as konbini, are an indispensable part of daily life. Millions flock to the stores daily to pick up food, send packages and pay bills.

Japan’s largest konbini chain, 7-Eleven, is also its most famous. It is understandable that a rival company wants in on the action.

This week, Seven & i Holdings, the Japanese company that operates 7-Eleven, said it had received an unsolicited takeover proposal from Alimentation Couche-Tard, a convenience store giant in Canada.

The status of 7-Eleven stores as a cornerstone of Japanese society also means Japan probably will not be willing to part with them, despite increasing pressure on the nation’s corporations to demonstrate openness to foreign-led acquisitions.

7-Eleven is “one of the best brick-and-mortar retail businesses in the world,” said Hiroaki Watanabe, an independent retail analyst. Selling 7-Eleven to Couche-Tard would be, for Japan, “equivalent to Toyota becoming a foreign company,” he said.