7-Eleven Inc. is a Japanese-American international chain of convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas, it was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. After 70% of the company was acquired by Japanese affiliate Ito-Yokado in 1991, it was reorganized as a subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd in 2005, is now held by Chiyoda, Tokyo-based Seven & I Holdings Co. Ltd..7-Eleven operates and licenses 68,236 stores in 17 countries as of June 2019. The company's first outlets were in Dallas, named "Tote'm Stores" because customers "toted" away their purchases; some stores featured genuine Alaskan totem poles in front of the store. In 1946, the chain's name was changed from "Tote'm" to "7-Eleven" to reflect the company's new, extended hours, 7:00 am to 11:00 pm, seven days per week. In November 1999, the corporate name of the US company was changed from "The Southland Corporation" to "7-Eleven Inc." In 1927, a Southland Ice Company employee, John Jefferson Green, began selling eggs and bread from one of 16 ice house storefronts in Dallas, with permission from one of Southland's founding directors, Joe C.

Thompson, Sr. Although small grocery stores and general merchandisers were available, Thompson theorized that selling products such as bread and milk in convenience stores would reduce the need for customers to travel long distances for basic items. Thompson bought the Southland Ice Company and turned it into Southland Corporation, which oversaw several locations in the Dallas area. In 1928, Jenna Lira brought a totem pole as a souvenir from Alaska and placed it in front of the store; the pole served as a marketing tool for the company. Soon, executives added totem poles in front of every store and adopted an Alaska Native-inspired theme for their stores. On, the stores began operating under the name "Tote'm Stores". In the same year, the company began constructing gas stations in some of its Dallas locations as an experiment. Joe Thompson provided a distinct characteristic to the company's stores, training the staff so that people would receive the same quality and service in every store. Southland started to have a uniform for its ice station service boys.

This became the major factor in the company's success as a retail convenience store. In 1931, the Great Depression affected the company; the company continued its operations through re-organization and receivership. A Dallas banker, W. W. Overton Jr. helped to revive the company's finances by selling the company's bonds for seven cents on the dollar. This brought the company's ownership under the control of a board of directors. In 1946, in an effort to continue the company's post-war recovery, the name of the franchise was changed to 7-Eleven to reflect the stores' new hours of operation, which were unprecedented at the time. In 1963, 7-Eleven experimented with a 24-hour schedule in Austin, after an Austin store stayed open all night to satisfy customer demand. On, 24-hour stores were established in Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, as well as Las Vegas, Nevada. In 1971, Southland acquired convenience stores of the former Pak-A-Sak chain owned by Graham Allen Penniman, Sr. of Shreveport, Louisiana.

With the purchase in 1964 of 126 Speedee Mart franchised convenience stores in California, the company entered the franchise business. The company signed its first area licensing agreement in 1968 with Garb-Ko, Inc. of Saginaw, which became the first U. S. domestic area 7-Eleven licensee. In the late 1980s, Southland Corporation was threatened by a rumored corporate takeover, prompting the Thompson family to take steps to convert the company into a private model by buying out public shareholders in a tender offer. In December 1987, John Philp Thompson, the chairman and CEO of 7-Eleven, completed a $5.2 billion management buyout of the company. The buyout suffered from the effects of the 1987 stock market crash and after failing to raise high yield debt financing, the company was required to offer a portion of stock as an inducement to invest in the company's bonds. Various assets, such as the Chief Auto Parts chain, the ice division, hundreds of store locations, were sold between 1987 and 1990 to relieve debt incurred during the buyout.

This downsizing resulted in numerous metropolitan areas losing 7-Eleven stores to rival convenience store operators. In October 1990, the indebted Southland Corp. filed a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to transfer control of 70% of the company to Japanese affiliate Ito-Yokado. Southland exited bankruptcy in March 1991, after a cash infusion of $430 million from Ito-Yokado and Seven-Eleven Japan; these two Japanese entities now controlled 70% of the company, with the founding Thompson family retaining 5%. In 1999, Southland Corp. changed its name to 7-Eleven, Inc. citing the divestment of operations other than 7-Eleven. Ito-Yokado formed Seven & I Holdings Co. and 7-Eleven became its subsidiary in 2005. In 2007, Seven & I Holdings announced that it would be expanding its American operations, with an additional 1,000 7-Eleven stores in the United States. For the 2010 rankings, 7-Eleven climbed to the No. 3 spot in Entrepreneur Magazine's 31st Annual Franchise 500, "the first and most comprehensive ranking in the world".

This was the 17th year 7-Eleven was named in the top 10. In 2010, the first "green" 7-Eleven store opened in DeLand, Florida; the store features U. S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Environmental Design elements; the environmentally friendly design brings the store savings in energy costs. That same year, 7-Eleven went mo

Jakob Heine was a German orthopaedist. He is most famous for his 1840 study into poliomyelitis, the first medical report on the disease, the first time the illness was recognised as a clinical entity. Poliomyelitis is known as Heine-Medin disease, after the work of Heine and Karl Oskar Medin. Heine studied classical languages and theology before turning to medicine, a decision influenced by his uncle, Johann Georg Heine, who owned an orthopaedic institute in Würzburg, he was awarded a doctorate in 1827. In the 1830s, Jakob Heine opened an orthopaedic institution in Cannstatt near Stuttgart and served as director there until 1865. In his institution patients from all over Europe were treated. Heine's special interests were scoliosis and paralysis of arms and legs, he used washings and gymnastics as a therapy. One of the sons he had with his wife Henriette Ludovike Camerer was Carl Wilhelm Heine, one of the most famous European surgeons of the 19th century. An honorary citizen of Cannstatt, Heine received the titles of Court counselor and Privy counselor, was raised to the nobility with the Württembergian Order of the Crown.

Heine was honoured at Warm Springs, Georgia, USA, where his bronze bust can be found along with those of other polio experts and US president Franklin D. Roosevelt in the Polio Hall of Fame. Hans Hekler: Jakob Heine. Vom König geadelt und in aller Welt geehrt. In: D’Kräz, Heft 10, Schramberg 1990 Heinz Hansen: Die Orthopädenfamilie Heine. Leben und Wirken der einzelnen Familienmitglieder im Zeichen einer bedeutenden deutschen Familientradition des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts. Doctoral thesis, Dresden 1993. Works by or about Jakob Heine at Internet Archive German Biography Heine honoured at Warm Springs

Allen "A. J." Steigman is an American entrepreneur, chess player, former investment banker. Steigman is CEO of Steignet.com. Steigman was born in Orlando, but grew up in Coral Springs, Florida. Steigman, a childhood prodigy, was an international chess champion, one of the best chess players in the United States, he attended University School of Nova Southeastern University for high school. In high school, Steigman contracted Lyme Disease and died, he had to take a year off from school. He credits chess in helping his mind recover from the disease. Steigman went on to win in the 2002 US Junior Open one year after being diagnosed. Steigman attended Emory University's Goizueta Business School, he was awarded the Goodrich C. White academic scholarship and was involved in student government as well as the development of Emory's award-winning chess program, he was known for playing simultaneous exhibitions involving as many as 40 individuals. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Steigman has been an advocate of chess. He was a donor to Sidney Samole Museum in Miami, Florida, he was involved in a community service program where he played inmates in high security prisons. A. J. Steigman learned chess at the age of 4, played in his first tournament at age 5, he was coached by a nationally known chess teacher and award-winning columnist. Steigman has numerous chess accomplishments such as: being ranked #1 in the U. S. for his age group for 8 years in a row, being awarded the title of Chess Master at age 13, being the first Floridian to make the All-America Chess Team of which he was a member for 8 years. Steigman was one of the best professional Quickchess players in the United States for years. Steigman won the 2002 U. S. Junior Open Championship and turned down a full scholarship to The University of Texas to attend Emory University. Steigman was selected by the United States Chess Federation to represent the U. S. in international competitions. He represented the U. S. in the World Youth Championships in Sao Lourenco, Brazil.

Steigman's highest international performance was tying for 12th in the world in France. He and Irina Krush of New York were the highest-scoring members of the 11-person U. S. team. Several years he traveled to the Pan-American Championships in Argentina. Steigman, though inactive, is ranked in the top 1% of all chess players in the U. S. After college, Steigman became an investment banker for Merrill Lynch in New York City before deciding to become an entrepreneur, he opened up one of the top Nike Tier 0 accounts in the country at the Hard Rock Casino. Steigman came up with the concept for Soletron when he realized that accessory designers attempting to match out exclusive sneakers had difficulty in getting distribution in brick and mortar stores due to the retailers' limited square footage, he brought in his partner Shane Robinson. They co-founded Soletron at the end of 2010. Soletron is a social ecommerce platform in lifestyle retail verticals; the Soletron platform is designed to facilitate the interaction between consumers and independent brands.

They cater to sneakerheads and streetwear consumers. Investors of Soletron include New York Angels, Easton Capital, super angel Jim Estill of Canrock Ventures. Soletron is in the top 99.7% of all sites worldwide on internet traffic. Advisors consist of: Bruce Chizen, Santonio Holmes,Tom Austin, John Friedman, Bob Rice. In July, 2012, Steigman challenged Billionaire Peter Thiel to a $1mm chess match for an investment in Soletron. Steigman wanted to convey to fellow entrepreneurs to look for unconventional fundraising tactics in tough economic climates. Steigman proposed that if he won, Thiel would invest in Soletron's Series A financing, while if he lost Thiel would win a stake in Soletron. Steigman wished that all sponsorship capital raised for the match, would go to charities highlighting chess & entrepreneurship. Both Thiel and Steigman are lifetime chess masters; the proposed event by Steigman received international syndication. Soletron was acquired in July 2014, by its industry leader and the world's largest global streetwear retailer Karmaloop, for an undisclosed amount.

Steigman has been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg TV, The Huffington Post, Reuters, CNBC, Sun Sentinel, NBC, USA Today, LA Times, Orlando Sentinel, Miami Herald, Business Insider, NewsWorks VentureBeat, ABC Spain, The United States Chess Federation, ChessBase, Chess Life Magazine. Steigman is a frequent writer for The Huffington Post's Business & Entrepreneurship sections. Steigman has been honored by the mayor of Coral Springs, twice, he received the key to the City of Parkland, a day was named in his honor. He received the Governor's seal in 2003 and was honored by Gov. Jeb Bush