Japan’s 7-Eleven stores pioneer; 93
Toshifumi Suzuki, an honorary adviser to Seven & i Holdings Co. who pioneered Japan’s convenience store industry, died of heart failure on May 18, the company said on Monday. He was 93.
The company’s charismatic former chair and chief executive officer was credited with bringing the 7-Eleven brand to Japan and growing it into one of the most successful convenience store chains in the world.
Suzuki was born in Nagano Prefecture in central Japan on Dec. 1, 1932. After graduating from Chuo University in 1956, he joined major book distributor Tokyo Shuppan Hanbai, currently Tohan Corp., and later changed careers to Ito-Yokado Co. in 1963.
Backed by the group’s late founder Masatoshi Ito, Suzuki launched a 7-Eleven outlet in Japan in 1974, the country’s first convenience store in the Toyosu area of Tokyo. He became the president of Seven-Eleven Japan Co. in 1978.
With Ito resigning as president of Ito-Yokado in 1992 to take responsibility for a payoff scandal, Suzuki was appointed to the post in haste, taking the helm of the entire group.
In September 2005, Suzuki launched Seven & i Holdings by integrating Seven-Eleven Japan, Ito-Yokado and Denny’s Japan Co., and assumed the posts of chair and CEO.
He expanded the business, entering the banking business and bringing then struggling Sogo & Seibu Co. under its umbrella.
Although Suzuki had a good relationship with Ito, the founder and major shareholder did not agree with Suzuki’s proposal in 2016 to replace the president of Seven-Eleven Japan. With the board also voting against the plan, Suzuki was forced to step down.
Suzuki also served as vice chair of the Japan Business Federation, known as Keidanren, as well as chair of Chuo University.
