I also learned last night that 7/11 isn't the only company to start in the United States and become a far fancier konbini in Japan. Lawson started out as a chain of dairy stores in Ohio, was bought out by the company that became Sara Lee, and their eventual expansion into Japan outlived the US stores and split off.
Many of the former Lawson stores in the US are now CircleK stores, which is a chain that was very present in the northeast, where I grew up.