Two convenience store giants, two opposite strategies, in the same market at the same time.

Seven & i Holdings, the parent company of 7-Eleven, is closing 645 locations across North America as part of a broader reduction plan, with an unspecified number of Canadian stores among them.

The same market, opposite bets

At the same time, Laval-based Alimentation Couche-Tard has continued expanding its own Canadian footprint — a reminder that headline "retail is struggling" narratives often average out two very different underlying stories.