7-Eleven Colorado Stores to Become Franchised

DALLAS -- 7-Eleven store managers in Colorado could own their stores as the company makes a push to turn the state's locations into franchises, the Fort Collins Coloradoan reported.

The convenience store chain, with about 5,800 locations across the United States and Canada, wants to transfer operations of its corporate-owned locations in Colorado and Utah, and has asked its store managers across the state to consider buying the locations they operate, an investment that would cost about $183,000, according to Margaret Chabris at 7-Eleven.

Sixty-percent of the 7-Eleven stores across the country are franchises, but Colorado's 232 stores are all currently owned by the corporation. The company also owns the land and the building for each 7-Eleven location across the country, which means franchisees only have to finance business costs.

On average, a 7-Eleven brings in about $1 million in yearly revenues. The company wants to turn over operations to franchisees largely because it wants to integrate the stores into the community, said Chabris in the report.

Historically, franchise-owned stores have performed better than company-owned locations, although Chabris said that's been changing over the last few years.

"Franchisees put their hard-earned money into a store," she said. "They really are very dedicated to running their stores."

7-Eleven Inc. posted a 13 percent revenue increase in its recent fourth quarter earnings report, and company officials attribute that jump to franchisees and rebranding of the store's image.

Net earnings for the quarter were $2.1 million, compared with a net loss of $6.1 million the previous year.
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