Japanese company Seven & I Holdings plans further openings and acquisitions in North America to take advantage of the improving consumer spending there.

The company, which owns convenience chain 7-Eleven, plans to increase its store count in the world’s largest economy from more than 8000 currently to 20,000 or even 30,000.

“We will raise the quality of operations, and we will go into the areas where we don’t have outlets,” said chairman Toshifumi Suzuki.

Further acquisitions are also planned, says Suzuki. It already bought 662 convenience stores last year in North America.

Market analysts see the expansion plans as a well-thought strategy considering the US has a population of about 300 million which poses huge growth, compared to Japan’s 120 million population.

Domestically, Seven & I says it will open 1500 new outlets this year in addition to the existing 15,218 convenience stores.

The company expects a net income of 170 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) for the current year.