It's Time To Pay Homage To The Greatest Convenience Store Ev-ah

They had Coke Icees. Never trust a slushy machine.

"IT'S BEEN IN THE GARBAGE BECAUSE I WANT YOU TO DIE!"

I've want American 7-11s to be like Japan's 7-11s. The food is actually considered good at the stores in Japan.

I believe 7-11 is headquartered or originated in Japan.

On behalf of all caucasian, female, chickens I say "FUCK YOU."

Strange things happen to those who slurp at 7-11

In the 70s my dad would send me there to get his cigarettes.

7-11 greatest convenience store? Pffft!!!!

Compared to Wawa, 7-11 is complete and total shit.

7-11 is where bums and the homeless hang out, and winos go to drink out of brown paper bags.

That was back when they used sugar in candy and natural flavors.

No it’s all hfcs and horrible, cheap acid flavorings that burn your mouth for 3 days.

Have you had a starburst lately? They taste like poison.

The 7-11s in Denmark are amazing. Fresh baked bread and pastries (we don't call them "danishes" btw).

I went to this amazing store while in Des Moines. But the name is hilarious or not sure if they are just trolling.

R3: I worked at 7-Eleven for more than 20 years (corporate office) before retiring. 7-Eleven originated in Dallas. Seven-Eleven Japan was the first international franchisee (they called them a "licensee") of 7-Eleven, Inc. (then known as The Southland Corp.), beginning in 1973. Seven-Eleven Japan was hugely successful, while Southland made a bunch of poor decisions, compounded by some bad luck, resulting in its filing for bankruptcy in 1990. In late 2005, an entity controlled by Seven-Eleven Japan bought out the remaining shareholders of 7-Eleven, Inc., and took the company private. So over a period of about 30 years, the franchisee/licensee took over its "boss"...a situation that persists to this day.

Also, R10, I am familiar with Kum & Go, which started as a family business in Iowa decades ago(the family's last name began with a "K"; hence the "Kum.") College kids up there call it "Ejaculate & Evacuate." They sell hats, T-shirts, coffee cups, and the like, emblazoned with the logo. Few Iowans even get the joke (then again, the freestanding pharmacies owned by local grocery chain Hy-Vee were for years called "Drug Town," without irony).

[quote] More than you wanted to know...

Not more than I wanted to know. I love inside info, history of companies and personal experiences at them.

Thank you, r11.

R12: Oh! You want personal experiences? I'll share a few:

1. One clerk insisted on running her register with her pet ferret nestled between her boobs and under her smock.

2. One employee used the three-part "sanitizing" sinks in the backroom to wash, flea-dip, and rinse her cat.

3. John Bobbitt's severed schlong was preserved in ice purchased at a nearby 7-Eleven until it could be surgically reattached.

4. Trayvon Martin's "last meal," as it were (consisting of a bag of Skittles and an AriZona watermelon-flavored beverage), was purchased at 7-Eleven.

5. Hunky and huge-thighed Olympic bicyclist Eric Heiden had an endorsement contract with 7-Eleven at the time of the 1984 Olympics through his company, HeidenSeek.

6. One customer was videotaped throwing herself on the floor of a 7-Eleven to manufacture her own personal injury claim. She was dissatisfied with her first attempt (as the videotape later showed), so she brushed herself off and threw herself down again.

7. In the early '90s, 7-Eleven sponsored the American Gladiators and hosted a "VIP" (?) reception featuring suchf luminaries as Ice, Lace, Jazz, Gemini, and Laser (all attired in track suits, rather than singlets), and a special beverage for the occasion called the "Eliminator."

I'll stop at 7.

The one in WeHo is open 24 hours (I think). Haven't been there in forever, but it's good in a pinch.

R11 here. I forgot that they put the severed penis in a "hot dog bag." Hee!

I remember riding my bike to one in the late 70s and early 80s. The slurpee flavors were simple and basic: orange, lime, cherry, blueberry, strawberry, lemon. Since then, all the flavors have corporate branding, e.g. Coca-cola, Minute-maid orange.

They also sold "Big Wheel" circular ice cream sandwiches, which were simple and delicious.

It always smelled like coffee and donuts. Now they also sell hot dogs, chili, pizza, and hot wings. It smells horrible.

Child of the 70s here. Slurpees were always a special treat, especially when they came in the collectible plastic cups, usually promoting a summer blockbuster or a a pro sports team. When I was old enough to drive and had access to a car, we would call different 7-11s to see which flavors they had before venturing out. Was always on the lookout for lemon or lime. Good memories.

[quote] The one in WeHo is open 24 hours

They’re all open 24 hours. The 7a-11p times went out decades ago.

I've heard that 7-11 was the first chain of convenience stores. Being open until 11pm was unheard of back then (no 24 hour stores) so that's why they were instantly popular. It's weird to think that there was a time when there were no convenience stores. My parents have told me that even grocery stores were closed on Sundays.

They have been reliably convenient for armed robbers.

Oh thank heaven for 7-11 baseball trading cups....Baseball tradings cups...Baseball trading cups

Slightly off topic: remember how commemorative glassware was THE thing for fast food restaurants to give out in the 70s? Superheroes, Bugs Bunny characters, etc.

They're not doing free slurpees this year because of Covid.

I’ve met a few of my lovers there

[quote]They had Coke Icees. Never trust a slushy machine.

I don't get this. Why don't trust a slushy machine.

r25

Because it's not a real thing.

I love seeing Lawson Station in Japan as Lawson's used to be in Ohio.

"Get that juice up to Lawson's in 40 hours"

My city has been without 7-11 for years and years. They were pretty nasty before they were bought out and changed to Jackson's stores. We don't miss them.

I think Icees came first before those imposters the Slushys. A Slushy shall never pass my lips.

[quote] I've want American 7-11s to be like Japan's 7-11s. The food is actually considered good at the stores in Japan.

I lived in Japan and can confirm the food isn't good. It's better than gas station food in the US, but that's not saying much.

7-11 is alright but it's no Sheetz.

I was raped in a 7-11. It was so awful.

R26, they are literally the same thing, dingbat.

7-Eleven was started in Dallas by the Southland Ice Company in the 1920s when they began selling other products like milk and bread from their ice stores. They were first called Tote'm Stores. In the 1940s, they changed to the 7-Eleven name to reflect their hours of operations. In the 1950s, they bought Cabell's Minit Markets, one of their Dallas competitors. They continued to operate them under the Cabell's name until the late 1960s when they finally converted them to the 7-Eleven brand. There was a Cabell's just around the corner from my childhood home in the Dallas suburbs. We used to walk to it to buy penny candy and Slurpees. I was only about 4 or 5 years old at the time, but I have a vague recollection of it changing its name to 7-Eleven. My parents still called it Cabell's for several years after that.

Right link.

r10, That is the name of over 400 convenience stores in 11 states. The chain, indeed, did start in Des Moines.

I grew up a a tiny town of 2,000 people in the rural South. In the 70s, the grocery stores closed at 7 p.m., on weekdays and 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. In the mid 70, when a convenience store opened up, it was the talk of the town. It wasn't a 7-Eleven. It was called the Mini-Mart and it stayed opened until 11 p.m.!

People couldn't beleive a store would stay open that late or that people would possibly need anything in there at 10:30 at night. In fact, if we were in the car at night, sometimes my family would drive by the Mini-Mart just to see if it really was open that late.

By the time I was in high school, several Fast Fare convenience stores opened up and they had gas pumps. At the time, that seemed like a very unusual concept -- combining a gas station with a convenience store. Pretty soon, all the gas stations in town started having convenience stores items for sale.

Icees are the original, everything else is fake.

God, John Wayne Bobbitt used to be hot. Now he's a crazy Trumper in Vegas.

I love 7-Eleven's pizza, and I don't care who knows it. Such a guilty pleasure.

Before 7-11 we had Pak a Sak in the 70's. I thought they were out of business but no they are still in TX at least.

R11. Thanks for the history. Kum & Go is 178th on Forbes magazine's list of the largest private companies in the United States, ranking second to Hy-Vee among companies based in Iowa. Also, Casey's convenience stores are the largest pizza chain in Iowa.

I have been to 7-11 in other countries and in general, the food offerings are much better.

In Taipei there is one on almost every corner. They cash checks, send money orders, serve as mail pickup -- everything.

Getting slurpees was the best. My sister would mix all the flavors, I would stick to coke.

God that was good.

7-11 came to NYC and they do pretty well. The one near me is a homeless magnet, but some are worse than others.

In the South they have Circle K which has the letter "K" inside of a circle.

But the snowbirds don't know about that, so they call it "That K store."

R41, did they have a Sack O Suds too?

my EX managed the ones in Vail years ago , so I hate them .

What I appreciate about 7-11 is their ability to maintain their brand integrity but individualize each location to reflect the community needs - at least at some in the Boston area.

The one in Cambridge was basically a grab-and-go cafe with a sit down coffee bar, pastries, sandwiches, salads, pizza, wings and other prepared foods to appeal to the college kids and office lunch crowd.

The one on State Street is the size of a closet and packed with sodas, snacks, and coffee for the tourists and their kids.

The one near me has pretty good “heat & serve” Indian Food and Jamaican Patties and mini Bahn Mi to reflect my eclectic neighborhood but also has the usual convenience store junk.

I think they’re pretty decent and I like the idea of their adaptability to a particular location and environment. In my fairly high crime neighborhood they’ve done a good job with security compared to previous merchants at that location.

There's one by my house and I swear, when I want to be bad I get two jack cheese and chicken taquitos. I know they're terrible. It's a twice a year thing. But damn I love those worthless calories.

I was addicted to their breakfast bites, which were like pizza rolls but with egg and sausage. OMG I'd always get the shits but they were sooooo good. Thank god i moved to another state that didn't sell them.

We didn't have a 7-11 in my hometown in the mid-70s, but there was one next to the hotel we stayed at while on a vacation. I was 15 and I went into the store every day. I noticed a Playgirl magazine was up on the top shelf of a rack. When no one else was in the store, I snapped it up and went to the register. The guy let me buy it, no questions asked. I hid it in the bottom of my suitcase. It was falling apart after I "used" it many, many times over the next several months.

We had "blue laws" in my state until the late 70s. Nothing was open, except gas stations, on Sundays.

I think I was in one once, never saw a reason to go back.

The 99 cent sausage biscuits and the $1.29 spicy chicken biscuits are so good. You must buy several and freeze if they're available at your 7-11.

OP It was exactly the same when it was open 24 hours

stupid cunt

It was amazing! It was open from 7am to 11pm, so if you went there anytime during those hours, you could go inside and buy things!

And if you went outside those times you could still get things.

When you run out, run out to 7-11

I thought that rhymed?