By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – Last year, 7-Eleven celebrated its 75th anniversary. It was the Thompson family of Dallas whose dream and sweat made the convenience store a given in our daily lives. And yesterday, eldest son John Philip, ex-CEO and president, died. I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
It's kind of like Kleenex - sure, there are other convenience stores in our community, but we always seem to call them 7-Eleven. It was 1927 when father Joe C. Thompson became an employee of Southland Ice Company in Dallas. He bought 2,500 shares at $10 each in the new company at its formation, and was elected a director at the inaugural meeting that same year. This is when the concept of the convenience store was pioneered. Southland began by selling blocks of ice to refrigerate food. Very quickly they began offering milk, bread and eggs on Sundays and evenings. Grocery stores were closed. But the eventual decline of ice plants and horse drawn wagons forced Thompson to think fast. So, through small stores using their chilling facilities, he began serving communities milk, cold drinks and groceries. It was an immediate success in Texas and the South, and then Washington, D.C.
When son John graduated college and became a member of the Board of Directors in 1948, there were over 400 stores. A few months before father Joe died in 1961, John Thompson became the President and CEO of Southland. There were 600 stores. By the time John stepped down as CEO in 1986, 7-Eleven grew to 15,500 stores in over 20 countries. We began Slurping, and Gulping and buying coffee to go, all under his tenure.
And John's civic leadership is something he freely gave. The Muscular Dystrophy Association received $81.5 million from Southland under Thompson. That was the single largest contribution for many years. In 1974, Southland donated $20,000 to the National Wildlife Foundation for the purchase of a land refuge for the bald eagle. Thompson also served on the board of that foundation, as well as so many other non-profits. I can't name them all. It was in 1991 that the Thompson family lost control of the board of Southland, but John and the family name will always remain synonymous with 7-Eleven. And if I may say, "Oh, Thank Heaven!" For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m. To contact Maxine Shapiro, please send emails to mshapiro@kera.org.