BY HATTIE FRANCIS/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
hattie.francis@gmail.com

FRANKLIN—Both 7-Elevens in Courtland and the one in Franklin are moving from corporate to individual ownership.

Alfran Gary, who is a corporate store manager, will take over the store at 23138 Main St. in Courtland on Feb. 17, said 7-Eleven Franchise Sales Manager Ron Bernal.

“I’ve actually sold the other Courtland store, but that probably won’t change over until April,” Bernal said.

Linda Artis, a corporate assistant store manager for 7-Eleven, purchased the 27414 Southampton Parkway convenience store.

Nora Ponter purchased the Franklin store at 1197 Carrsville Highway, which will change hands in February. According to Bernal, this is Ponter’s second store; she also owns a 7-Eleven in Suffolk.

Ponter was also a corporate store manager at one time.

“All of them (have) great reputations with 7-Eleven, longtime employees with 7-Eleven,” Bernal said. “Now obviously they have the opportunity to be their own boss — to be an entrepreneur, to be in control of their destiny.”

Once individuals become a franchisee and purchase a store, they no longer work for 7-Eleven.

“It’s a great opportunity in the face of this recession for these folks here to be their own bosses,” Bernal said. “They become our partners, and it truly is partners in the truest sense of that word.”

The world’s largest operator, franchiser and licensor of convenience stores, 7-Eleven is also one of the nation’s largest independent gasoline retailers.

Founded in 1927 in Dallas, 7-Eleven pioneered the convenience store concept during its first years of operation as an ice company when its retail outlets began selling milk, bread and eggs as a convenience to customers. The name 7-Eleven originated in 1946 when the stores were open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Today, offering customers 24-hour convenience, seven days a week is the cornerstone of 7-Eleven’s business.

The company operates close to 7,100 stores in the United States and Canada. Of the 6,000 stores the company operates and franchises in the United States, more than 4,700 are franchised.