A retailer larger than Walmart, Dollar General, and even McDonald's is getting ready to close over 400 stores nationwide. Is your store on the chopping block?

We have about 2 weeks left until the New Year, but 2024 isn't finished wreaking havoc on retail empires everywhere.

This year alone we saw consumer titans like Big Lots, KMart, Rite Aid, and many others go out of business entirely or sharply reduce the number of operating stores.

Read More: America's Once Largest Retailer Shuts Last Remaining NY Area Store

This time, 2024 is coming for the largest retailer on the planet. This chain owns over 62,000 physical locations worldwide. That's nearly 20,000 more stores than the second largest chain in the world, which would be Subway.

Here in America, this mega chain owns about 13,000 stores across the country.

Unfortunately, it seems it is now simply too big and has to make drastic changes to sustain itself.

Canadian Retail Operator Makes Bid To Buy 7-Eleven
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Global retailer 7-Eleven said it is eliminating at least 440 stores here in the United States. This is nearly 200 more stores than what was originally announced in June.

Seven & I Holdings, a Japanese-owned company, confirmed the cause of the closures are due to underperformance.

Reasons include declining traffic, ongoing pressures from the pandemic, inflation, and a sharp drop in cigarette purchases.

Yes, you read that correctly. Cigarette sales are killing 7-Eleven.

Apparently cigarette sales plummeted by over 26% since 2019.

Smoking Ban Comes Into Effect In England
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The company has been cagey about what stores are shuttering, but one location in Ashburn, VA, abruptly closed its doors this month.

Similar closures have been reported in Chicago, New York City, and Las Vegas.

New York is presently home to 595 store locations, but it is unknown if any local 7-Elevens are on the hit list.

Some CNY locations include North Genesee Street in Utica, Kellogg Road in New Hartford, Fayette Street in Manlius, and Utica Boulevard in Lowville.

That being said, this must be sad news to fans of the Slurpee and history buffs - as this chain has been going strong since 1927.

7-11 Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary
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The good thing is, 7-Eleven thinks it has a plan to ensure its survival in the United States. The brand is thriving in other countries, especially Japan where these convenience chains dot practically every corner.

As someone who spent 2 weeks in Japan recently, I am all for 7-Eleven adopting some of its more popular global features. Mostly, I wouldn't mind if the chain punted its old egg salad sandwich recipe off the menu and instead made them like they do in Asia.

All I can say is I devoured multiple egg sandwiches, affectionately called "tamago sando", when I was in Japan because they were beyond scrumptious.

The chain could get a boost by selling the kinds of food that are more popular worldwide instead of reheated pizza slices and hotdogs. Just saying.

Man, I miss those sandwiches.

I also may have written this article just to talk about how good those sandwiches were. Merry Christmas to myself.

Megan Stone
Megan Stone
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