HANOI -- Seven-Eleven has opened its first convenience store in Vietnam, marking the beginning of its effort to catch and surpass rivals that have already carved out some turf.

The Vietnamese market for such stores looks destined to grow, given the country's brisk economy and progress on deregulation. Seven-Eleven is already the world's largest convenience store operator, with some 62,000 outlets worldwide, and it had been keen to break into the promising Southeast Asian country for a while.