7-Eleven is leaving Indonesia (photo from Inside Retail Asia Facebook page). 7-Eleven is leaving Indonesia (photo from Inside Retail Asia Facebook page).

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – All 136 7-Eleven convenience stores in Indonesia are set to close following a failed sale by its local operator, Modern Internasional, Japan’s Nikkei Asian Review reported Friday.

The convenience store brand entered the Southeast Asian country in 2009 but was unable to overcome competition from two local chains with a longer history and from street food stalls.

Modern Internasional reached an agreement earlier this year to sell the 24-hour stores to Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand, which owns an affiliate running the world’s second-largest 7-Eleven network, in Thailand.

However, the deal became unstuck in early June, the Nikkei reported, leaving Modern Internasional no choice but to shutter its 7-Eleven operations, with the final more than 100 stores ceasing business Friday.

Local minimarkets Alfamart and Indomaret, who sold more groceries and fewer drinks, expanded and imitated 7-Eleven, with the former tying up with Japan’s Lawson chain.

A national ban on the sale of alcohol by convenience stores issued in 2015 signaled the beginning of the demise of 7-Eleven in Indonesia, even though the ban was later relaxed to allow local governments to decide on its implementation.

Modern Internasional began closing down convenience stores last year as its own sales and revenues slipped further. Competitors also cut down their expansion plans, opening fewer convenience stores than originally announced, or giving up on the business altogether, the Nikkei Asian Review reported.