Joe DePinto spoke about his company 7-Eleven at the East Academic Building at 6 p.m. on April 18. He took over the company in 2005. Before, he was a president of GameStop, a video game and computer software retailer. He was vice president of operations of 7-Eleven in March 2002 until he joined forces with GameStop in March 2005.
7-Eleven started as an ice house in 1927 in Oakcliff, Texas. DePinto said there were only 12 stores that served ice in a time when there was no refrigeration. The birth of the convenience store happened when a store manager went to the original founders of 7-Eleven telling them that customers were asking them to carry milk, eggs and bread in the ice house.
“Today, our brand reaches 46,000 locations and 16 countries and we open the store every two and half hours somewhere in the world,” DePinto said. “We are growing very rapidly.”
7-Eleven has 25 million customers globally a day and nine million transactions. In North America, they do over $22 billion in revenue and globally, it’s $63 billion.
“For seven years, Joe has been able to shape the culture of not only a company, but an industry,” Dean of Business and Technology Benjamin Akande said.
Andrew Case, junior international business major, said he would like to go into real estate and said he learned a lot from the event.
“I learned a lot about reflecting more upon what the customer wants instead of what might be good for the business, but not good for the customer,” Case said. “The customer should always come first.”
For the full story, check the next edition of The Journal on April 25.
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