Seven & I welcomes 1,219 recruits

Seven & I Holdings Co. welcomed 1,219 new employees to its 14 group companies on Thursday, up 39 from a year earlier.

"Serving customers will be a tough job in the face of the consumption tax hike in April," Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Toshifumi Suzuki told them at a Tokyo hotel. "I expect you to be ambitious enough to grow the company into a pioneer in merging the Internet and real outlets (businesses)."

Satsuki Wada, 22, who will be entering the retailer's supermarket arm YorkMart Co., said, "I want to try hard to be flexible to changing consumer needs and contribute to the group's development."

Seven & I's annual welcoming ceremony is held each March to give new hires enough time to familiarize themselves with the job. Many companies hold their ceremonies in April.

The extra recruits this year reflect expansions in its group companies. The convenience store chain, 7-Eleven Japan Co., plans to open a record 1,600 new outlets through next February.