One of the earliest tales of a c-store moving toward 24/7 operating hours comes by way of a 7-Eleven store in 1963, according to Jeff Lenard, vice president of NACS media and strategic communications. While the move was less of a corporate directive than an opportunity in the moment, Lenard said the store was so busy following a football game in Austin, Texas, that instead of closing, it just stayed open to accommodate the crowd. 

“And all of a sudden, it was morning—that’s how the story goes, anyway,” said Lenard.

Since then, c-stores have been synonymous with round-the-clock operations. “It was first popular near factories and hospitals—anywhere there was a third-shift operation,” said Lenard. “After that, it just extended out.”

Lenard points to two key reasons for stores to remain open 24/7 today. From a crime perspective, he said, stores open “nearly” 24/7 can present security concerns. “Let’s say a store closes at 2 a.m. and opens at 5 a.m. That means there are two points during every day when money is moving within the store—at open and close. It’s something that could be attractive to robbers,” he said.

Second, with more c-stores selling prepared food at all hours, a deep clean can be done when the store is less busy instead of when it’s closed, Lenard pointed out: “If the store is being cleaned, why not also be available to customers?”

NACS continues to work toward accent-uating the positives of 24/7 operations, which has led to initiatives such as the NACS Foundation’s 24/7 Day and working with anti-human-trafficking groups and National Safe Place Network. “We are there for us when people need us, whether for products or services or for help,” said Lenard. 

That said, 24-hour operations appear to be in decline overall. The pandemic drove a huge change that is still lingering—or spreading. 

Walmart is one retailer that no longer keeps its stores open overnight, a change that dates back to the pandemic. Denny’s is another example: The restaurant chain was famous for being open 24/7 and initially was working to return to round-the-clock operations after the pandemic, but has now embraced the idea of locking up overnight in the wake of franchisee requests. Smaller businesses aren’t immune. CNN reported that the number of restaurants open overnight declined 18% from 2020 to 2024. Los Angeles alone lost 35% of its around-the-clock eating establishments. 

More recently, a 76-store Hardee’s franchise operator, Paradigm Investment Group—without consent from parent company CKE—closed its stores during the dinner segment. The dispute is now part an ongoing legal battle. The operator said longer hours were negatively affecting profits, and that reduced hours helped with staff retention. The complaint states, “The franchisee and Hardee’s would lose money if Paradigm was forced to comply with the minimum hours.”

The 24-hour conversation also is showing up in c-store trends outside the United States. A 2024 survey conducted by Tokyo-based Kyodo News showed several major convenience retailers had shortened business hours and are no longer operating around the clock. The story noted that Seicomart, one of the largest c-store operators in northern Japan, cut business hours at 87% of its stores. Kyodo News cited concerns about overwork and labor issues as primary reasons for shifts in operating hours.

And similar to the Hardee’s lawsuit, a 7-Eleven franchisee in Japan made headlines when he lost a legal battle over control of the store after he ceased 24-hour operations. The explanation was that the owner was exhausted, labor was unaffordable and “he had decided that the revenue from staying open into the wee hours did not justify the costs,” according to The New York Times. 

Strategist Marc Friedman of retail consulting firm McMillan Doolittle said he can understand why it may not make financial sense to remain open 24 hours in today’s operating environment. “What’s important is finding your niche where you can grow,” he said. “A change in store hours is more of a reflection of a longer-term trend of understanding there are different ways people shop now.” 

Friedman said brick-and-mortar retailers overall are “are all trying to hold the line” as customers shift behavior to online shopping and food delivery alternatives. “Everyone is trying to focus on what they can control to keep going,” he said.

Today’s c-store executives are focused on efficiency, said Jed Brewer, CEO of Study Groups, which oversees industry peer groups. “Periods of uncertainty make for more conservative operating procedures,” he said. Among the operators he works with, more efficient ways of operating certainly take precedence over store hours. “Relooking at strategy and tactics related to convenience, which includes hours and assortment, is prudent,” he said.

“The more you earn on other income sources, such as food or lottery sales, for example, the less dependent you are on fuel to be profitable,” Brewer said. “While the industry has been making progress, we’ve actually become more dependent on fuel margins today than five years ago because of rising costs.”

“How do we control those costs? We have to look at every angle, and store hours are another lever to pull,” he continued. “It’s one more thing to examine as operators look for every tiny thing they can shave off.”

Store hours may prove one part of the equation in what is definitely a more difficult operating environment, said Kay Segal, founder of Business Accelerator Team. “The consumer has a lot more options, and their journey has changed,” she said. 

As a consultant focused on profitability, Segal views assessing store hours as part of understanding an operation’s ROI.

“It’s never a bad idea to conduct an individual analysis of each location,” Segal said. “But the real headline is that you cannot save your way to profitability. Are you reducing hours because you don’t have enough sales? The right offer? Did you exhaust every opportunity? It would have to be a case-by-case basis and assessed in relation to the overall brand positioning.”

Segal said the larger convenience store operators she works with continue to operate as 24-hour locations. Considering mass merchandisers, grocers and restaurants seem to be steering away from that, Segal wonders if the opportunity is ripe for c-stores to lean into 24-hour positioning: “Convenience operations are perfect for the fourth or fifth meal, but do consumers know what is available during late nights?”

One plus-sized operator bucking the odds of labor being a reason not to remain open around the clock is Buc-ee’s. Its stores are largely located on interstates and high-traffic corridors, which generate significant overnight traffic, Brewer said. 

So where does that leave the discussion of store hours? The lack of a perfect formula could mean site-specific equations will play a larger role in determining operating hours.