Toshifumi suzuki biography of albert

Sheer frustration at the inconvenience of everyday shopping led Toshifumi Suzuki in 1973 to set up a company to operate the Seven-Eleven chain of convenience stores in Japan.

That was half a century ago and, since then, shoppers have used the outlets without thinking simply because they are so “convenient,” says Suzuki, who currently serves as honorary adviser to Seven & i Holdings Co., the parent company.

In a recent interview with The Asahi Shimbun, the 91-year-old entrepreneur shared his thoughts on the indispensability of convenience stores to Japan and to himself personally.

Excerpts of the interview follow:

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Question: I heard that you set up the convenience store chain in the 1970s while many people stated that small shops wouldn’t survive.

Would you elaborate?

Suzuki: I happened to visit a store of the 7-Eleven chain during a business tour of the United States.

Many people told me there was no sense