Posted May 25, 2026 at 2:15 PM UTCAThe man who helped make 7-Eleven so popular in Japan has died.Toshifumi Suzuki partnered with the US operator of 7-Eleven to bring the convenience store chain to Japan in 1973 and then went on to revolutionize the use of sales, customer, and inventory data to help make the stores a popular source of cheap and easy meals for locals, and a must-stop destination for tourists. Suzuki was 93 years old.Follow topics and authors from this story to see more like this in your personalized homepage feed and to receive email updates.Andrew Liszewski
The man who helped make 7-Eleven so popular in Japan has died.
Toshifumi Suzuki partnered with the US operator of 7-Eleven to bring the convenience store chain to Japan in 1973 and then went on to revolutionize the use of sales, customer, and inventory data to help make the stores a popular source of cheap and easy meals for locals, and a must-stop destination for tourists. Suzuki was 93 years old. [Image: A man walks out of a 7-Eleven convenience store along a street in central Tokyo. https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/05/gettyimages-2170311659.jpg?quality=90&strip=all]
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