7-Eleven is closing about 450 underperforming stores across North America

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

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

The list of which stores will be closed has not been released.

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

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

“Despite persistent inflation, high interest rates and declining employment, the North American economy remained strong overall at the expense of high-income earners,” Seven&I Holdings said in an earnings release. “In this context, there was a more prudent approach to spending, particularly among middle and lower income earners.”

Seven & I Holdings (Getty Images / Getty Images)

The chain highlighted that sales of cigarettes, once the biggest sales category for convenience stores, have fallen 26% since 2019, and changes in sales of other nicotine products have failed to make much of a difference.

The company said it will transform its stores to focus on food, which is now the top-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 retail group centered on its food that leads retail innovation through global growth strategies centered on the 7-Eleven business and proactive use of technology”.

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