Micronesia Seven Inc. which does business as 7-Eleven; closed all of its outlets the week of Oct. 2. Micronesia Seven ran eight 7-Eleven outlets located in Barrigada Piti Yigo Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station lower Tumon the Fountain Plaza the Sun Plaza and the Blue Lagoon. The Barrigada and NCTS outlets were located in Shell gas stations and the Yigo and Piti outlets were located in Mobil gas stations.

Initially six of the eight locations closed leaving only the Barrigada and NCTS locations open for business. Ruben Domingo general manager of Shell Guam Inc.; told the Journal the stores located in the Barrigada and NCTS Shell stations have also closed and have been converted to Shell convenience stores.

"Basically the 7-Elevens are already out as of Oct. 2 and we will be putting up our own sign " Domingo said. "As far as operations are concerned we have already taken over. The signs will be up in the next several weeks."

Domingo did not want to go into detail concerning Shell buying 7-Eleven inventory. He did not say if 7-Eleven’s employees would stay on to work at the Shell convenience stores. "There’s no agreement on that " he said.

The Journal also contacted Mobil Oil Guam Inc. about the status of its Piti and Yigo stations where two 7-Elevens are housed. Kamal Singh president and country manger of Mobil; said; "We are currently in discussions with 7-Eleven." He did not want to go into details of the discussions. The phone numbers to the Piti and Yigo stations are no longer in service.

Calls to Micronesia Seven were not returned as of press time.

While 7-Eleven outlets on Guam have shut down 7-Eleven Inc. is expanding. According to the 7-Eleven Web site on Aug. 10 7-Eleven Inc. announced that it had purchased White Hen Pantry Inc. a convenience store chain based in Lombard Ill. White Hen operates and franchises 206 stores in the Chicago area and Northwest Indiana and licensed another 55 in Boston. With the addition of the White Hen stores the number of stores 7-Eleven operates franchises and licenses in North America increased to more than 7 100.

Based in Dallas Texas 7-Eleven Inc. is the largest chain in the convenience retailing industry. Globally 7-Eleven operates franchises or licenses more than 30 000 stores in 18 countries and U.S. territories including Guam. During 2005 7-Eleven stores worldwide generated total sales of approximately $43 billion.

Micronesia Seven Inc. opened its first 7-Eleven store in December 1987 in Barrigada. According to the 7-Eleven Inc. Web site Micronesia Seven employed 75 people. MBJ