A US subsidiary of 7-Eleven Japan Co will expand its convenience store empire to Cambodia next year and allow the Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group Co Ltd (CP Group) to oversee operations in the Kingdom.

Japan’s Kyodo News reported on Friday that CP All Plc, the conglomerate’s SET-listed retail arm, has concluded a deal with Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc to operate 7-Eleven stores through its subsidiary CP All (Cambodia) Co beginning in 2021.

A spokeswoman for 7-Eleven Japan’s parent company, the Japanese retail group Seven & i Holdings Co Ltd, told Kyodo News that the first outlet is set to open in Phnom Penh.

She said 7-Eleven stores in the Kingdom will offer international beverage and snack products as well as ready-to-eat fresh food items tailored to the local palette.

Seven & i Holdings is considering opening its flagship convenience store chain in other countries and plans to open an outlet in India by the end of this year, she said.

Cambodian Ambassador to Thailand Ouk Sorphorn told The Post on Sunday that the forthcoming presence of 7-Eleven convenient stores in Cambodia is a good sign of successful policies geared at promoting economics, culture and tourism between the two nations.

It also reflects upon the potential of the Thailand-Plus-One strategy, which the Royal Embassy of Cambodia in Bangkok has been implementing to lure tourists and foreign investors to visit and invest in Cambodia.

The Thailand-Plus-One strategy is a business model in which Japanese companies extend their supply chain networks developed in Thailand to neighbouring countries to benefit from low-cost production sites while maintaining their main regional production base in Thailand.http://https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/7-eleven-open-cambodia