Oh thank heaven? Franchise model expected to bring new 7-Eleven stores to Winnipeg
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A new franchise model rolled out this week is expected to attract new 7-Eleven stores in Winnipeg.
The international convenience chain will licence its brand and operations to entrepreneurs to open hundreds of new stores across the country, a first in Canada, said the vice president for 7-Eleven Canada.
“We will be adding new 7-Elevens to the network through this multi-unit franchise model, so we are very excited to see this come to life in Winnipeg and in Manitoba altogether,” Marc Goodman said in an interview Monday.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES
At least eight Winnipeg 7-Eleven stores have shut down since August 2024, but new franchise locations are expected to open in the city.
Goodman did not share a timeline for new openings in Winnipeg, but said “one or two” parties have already signed on to open stores across the Prairies that would have the same “look and feel” as the former corporation-owned stores, but operate through a franchise model.
“We are very excited to see this come to life in Winnipeg.”
At least eight Winnipeg 7-Eleven stores have shut down since August 2024, when the company warned city council that crime had put a number of their locations at risk. Two 7-Eleven locations — at Notre Dame Avenue and Arlington Street and Keewatin Street and Logan Avenue — shut their doors within days of each other in May.
Goodman said the reasons for those closures were multi-faceted and his hope is to see a “flurry” of new openings in the future.
“We have leases that expire, we have stores that aren’t necessarily as profitable as they once were, as the demographics around them have changed, and so sometimes that means we have store closures, and whether it’s been in Winnipeg or other parts of the country, we’ve taken the liberty to close a handful of our stores,” he said.
“That doesn’t mean we’re not planning on developing and growing throughout Winnipeg or the entire province of Manitoba.”
The 7-Eleven website lists 19 open stores in Winnipeg.
In his state of the city address earlier this year, Mayor Scott Gillingham said he had been told by the corporation that they planned to expand in Winnipeg, despite the closures.
“Safety and theft have been part of the problems that 7-Eleven has faced, like many retailers are facing.”
Gillingham said Monday that while he hadn’t spoken with 7-Eleven since, hearing that franchising is set to start this week is good news for the city.
“I think the closures of 7-Eleven in the past have to be seen in the overall picture of what was happening in North America, 7-Eleven was closing stores across North America in several locations,” he said. “I do believe that safety and theft have been part of the problems that 7-Eleven has faced, like many retailers are facing. Those are very real challenges that retailers deal with on a daily basis.”
According to earnings filings published by 7-Eleven’s parent company in April, its North American operators plan to close 645 stores in the 2026 fiscal year and open 205 locations, citing impacts of high costs “particularly among low-income households, as inflation continued to weigh on spending.”
The move to franchising comes with a shift in 7-Eleven’s business model, which will add a focus on quick-serve restaurant items and fresh food and fewer traditional convenience store goods. The change comes as the market has shifted over time to include big box stores and discount shops.
“Fundamentally, what we’re hearing, and what 7-Eleven is saying, is that they remain confident in our market, such that they want to bring a franchise model to our market,” said Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Loren Remillard.
“That requires not just 7-Eleven to have belief in the market, but a potential franchisee owner having faith in the market. The fact they believe that model will be successful here means they believe in the Winnipeg market.”
The Slurpee turns 60 this year and will be celebrated on July 11, with free small Slurpees offered at 7-Elevens across the country.
malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak.
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