I Love 7-11

[Guest Nevermortal]

And I also love the Slurp and Gulp.

 

1.99 for a Slurpee/Soda combination, with 1.29 refills.

 

OH WAIT.

 

The cashier either messed up, was nice, or perhaps the price changed, because they've since only charged me 95 CENTS for refills.

 

7-11 rules.

[Rendclaw 0]

7-11 kept me alive when I was working as a driver in Florida.. a 52 ounce X-treme Gulp for 3.99 with .79 refills.

[Guest Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye]

slurpees have always been 95 cent refills here

 

Beautiful thing

[Guest Choken One]

< Curses 7-11 for being more then 200 Miles from here...

[Guest starvenger]

< Curses 7-11 for being more then 200 Miles from here...

What he said. I don't get the Big Gulps (trying to lay off the pop) but it's the comfort factor. Diamond Shamrock mini-marts just aren't the same...

[Guest The Old Me]

yes, 7 eleven is indeed a convenience god. taquitos rule!

[Guest jimmy no nose]

Drinks and slupees are good to get from them but a lot of their stuff is overpriced by a lot. I sometimes pick up some Slim Jims or chips while I'm in there though. I used to take the huge Super Gulp cups and fill them with Slurpee and the guy knew I did it all the time but only charged me the price for the Super Gulp.

[Guest DerangedHermit]

I got like 4-5 within a 3 mile radius. Hell, there's two on Route 112 that are on the opposite sides of the LIE (no farther than 1/8 mile from each other), plus another one a mile northwest of there on N. Ocean Av. I used to get the nachos there until they raised the prices through the roof. However, Slurpees are the king!

[Guest MaxPower27]

There's one right down the street.

 

The people that work there can't count, so I routinely get more change than I'm supposed to get. Sometimes I give it back.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Unless you are getting fountain soda/slurpees or a hot dog, 7-11 sucks because everything else is over priced.

[Red Baron 0]

There's a 7-11 across the street.

 

I wanna big gulp.

[Guest SweetNSexyDiva]

7-11 is fabulous! I couldn't live without one around the corner!

[Only The Strong Survive 0]

^Totally.

[Guest Your Olympic Hero]

they have 1/2 pound pepperoni pizza hot pockets at my 7-11 for $2

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Where I live, the closest 7-11 is in Daytona, which is an hour away. We use to have them, but the Gate company bought 'em all out. I only get Slurpees when I go out of town, now.

 

I miss them.

[Guest The Old Me]

Where I live, the closest 7-11 is in Daytona, which is an hour away. We use to have them, but the Gate company bought 'em all out. I only get Slurpees when I go out of town, now.

 

I miss them.

7-11 is worth the hour long drive. Trust me.

[El Gigante 0]

7-11 has everything you could need in life.

[Guest The Old Me]

7-11 has everything you could need in life.

Agreed.

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

The magazine Bikini did an awesome article on 7-11 a few years back...the one with Jaime Pressly on the cover in a silver bikini. If you can track down the article you should read it, it's hilarious.

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

I like 7-11 because it's the only place in Hawaii where you can get a Cherry 7-up.

[OldSchoolWrestling 0]

I remember back in high school after a night of drinking we'd walk in there at 2 in the morning and pop a big assed burrito in the microwave and we'd be in heaven.

[Guest Choken One]

I like 7-11 because it's the only place in Hawaii where you can get a Cherry 7-up.

:Farrooq Mode:

 

Well....I'll be DAMNED!

 

 

Hawai has a fucking 7-11 and yet Southwestern Ohio doesn't?

[Guest The Old Me]

Ohio blows. The again, so does PA.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

The diet pepsi slurpee rules.

 

As does the diet pepsi big gulp with a shot of vanilla and a shot of cherry stuff.

[CanadianChick 0]

I love 7-11. Last night, I got the best junk out foods for the night: A big gulp slurpee (duh), a pack of Sweish Berries (you know, the best candies ever!), and a ice cream cone.Yum.

[treble 0]

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a 7-11, let alone been in one.

 

What an empty life I've lead.

 

EDIT: No, wait, I did drive by one a few times (the same one) when I was out west a few months back.

 

*life regains meaning*

[Fökai 0]

I like 7-11 because it's the only place in Hawaii where you can get a Cherry 7-up.

:Farrooq Mode:

 

Well....I'll be DAMNED!

 

 

Hawai has a fucking 7-11 and yet Southwestern Ohio doesn't?

::nods::

[DerangedHermit 0]

I like 7-11 because it's the only place in Hawaii where you can get a Cherry 7-up.

Remind me not to go to Hawaii....

 

j/k

[Guest Crucifixio Jones]

The magazine Bikini did an awesome article on 7-11 a few years back...the one with Jaime Pressly on the cover in a silver bikini. If you can track down the article you should read it, it's hilarious.

7-Eleven is the king of convenience stores, as American as Big Gulps, beef jerky and microwave burritos. Leslee Komaiko thanks heaven.

 

Slurpee

Nation

 

"Very very nice people. Never never crazy people. Very very nice customers. No fight never."

-Randhir, 7-Eleven employee

 

7-Eleven is all about wishes fulfilled. It is about immediate gratificiation, something you can't get at a supermarket, where a pack of Bubble Yum or a pint of Ben & Jerry's comes with a penalty: aisles and aisles of things you don't need, and a line at the end of it behind four people with a dozen items each.

 

There is no such excess at 7-Eleven. There's only what you need right now, neatly arranged in a space that requires no map. Mostly, there is junk: a terrific variety of things we have been told at one time or another that we should not have, including - but not limited to - chips, soda, candy, pastries, beer, gum, salted nuts, bean dip, dried beef, wine coolers, sugar-laden cereal, caramel corn, hot dogs, nachos, ice cream, pork rinds and coffee. Did I mention cigarettes?

 

Roughly three quarters of every store is dedicated to some form of self-degradation. But that's what makes 7-Eleven great. It recognizes that humans don't always want to do the right thing. Like a good friend, it supports your stupid choices and never passes judgement. It just sells you the shit. Twenty-four hours a day. Seven days a week.

 

"It's a great store. They have everything."

-Woman selling 50 Years of Israel book outside 7-Eleven #25599

 

 

All That, and More

Contrary to popular thinking, the name 7-Eleven does not come from craps. Nor is it a police code, as one friend suggested. (What would an urgent 7-11 radio call indicate? Crime on a Pakistani? Stolen Bubble Yum?) Actually, the 7-Eleven name was created in 1946 for a chain of neighborhood stores in Texas that were open from, you guessed it, 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. But 7-Eleven got its start even earlier, in 1927.

 

That was the year the Southland Ice Company was founded in Oak Cliff, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. Like any ice company worth its mettle, this one sold ice, mostly for use in domestic ice boxes. During the winter months, however, business was far from brisk. Why buy ice when you have snow? And with the introduction of the refrigerator - good for leftover Chinese but bad for ice hawkers - sales diminished. This is where Uncle Johnny Green comes into the picture.

 

Uncle Johnny was an ice dock employee. He probably made minimum wage. Whether or not he had to wear a stupid uniform I cannot say. Anyway, Uncle J. had an idea to scare up extra business, particularly in the slow winter months. He started to sell milk, eggs and bread in addition to ice. With this, convenience retailing was born. Other Southland stores opened and followed suit. Some sold gasoline. By 1928, there were ten Southland stores, but they had a new name, Tote'm. Genuine Alaskan totem poles decorated many of the stores.

 

Thank heaven for Tote'm?

 

"There's something comforting about them. I know what I'll find. There's little else in this world that you can feel that way about."

-Mark Daley, bying Ramona's Chile Relleno Burrito

 

Today, the Southland Corporation operates, franchises and licenses more than 17,000 7-Eleven stores. About 6,000 of them are in the United States. Mare than 7,000 are in Japan (where they all called Seven Eleven). Sweden has 44 and Turkey nine. Maybe 7-Eleven is not so American after all.

 

"They sell dictionaries here."

-Erika Larsen, Bazooka bubble gum and Friskies cat food

 

In the US, California has the most 7-Eleven stores, close to 1,200. This is nearly twice as many as second-place Virginia.

 

About 2,000 of our nation's 7-Eleven stores sell gasoline. The 7-Eleven with the highest volume of sales are those near Disneyworld in Kissimee, Florida, in Anaheim, California, close to Disneyland and a handful of stores in Long Island. In other words, there's an eerie correlation between tack (i.e. big hair, talking mice, Hawaiian-shirted tourists) and sales at 7-Eleven.

 

"Too dirty. And they grab your money before you get your product."

-Earl Backles, Benson & Hedges DeLuxe Ultra Lights

 

 

You Gotta Fight For Your Right to Slurpee

In 1966, three years after 7-Eleven started operating stores around the clock, the Slurpee, a happy combination of water, flavored syrup, and CO2, was introduced. Alas, 7-Eleven did not pioneer this beverage. ICEE beat them by a year. More shocking is the fact that for a brief period during the '60s, 7-Eleven utilized machines emblazoned with the ICEE name. (For obvious reasons, the powers that be at ICEE delight in this bit of trivia; one representative even offers to send me corroborating photos.)

 

Although the Slurpee represents only a small percentage of sales for 7-Eleven - after gasoline, the top three items are beer, cigarettes and coffee (it's a good thing they don't sell firearms) - it's the product with which the venerable convenience empire is most closely connected.

 

The first Slurpee flavors introduced were cola (not Coca-Cola), lemon-lime and cherry. Nearly 100 Slurpee flavors have since been created. But only a quarter of these see regular action.

 

The most popular Slurpee flavor is Coca-Cola Classic. (In the late 80's Southland signed an agreement with Coca-Cola to produce all the flavored syrups for Slurpees in the U.S.) Wild Cherry takes second place. Next comes whatever blue flavor is being featured: Blue Raspberry maybe, or Blue Bubblegum. One of the least popular flavors ever produced was chocolate. "It did not do well," admits Slurpee Category Manager John Ryckevic a.k.a. Mr. Slurpee. Another loser was Slurpee Lite, which has half the calories of regular Slurpee. If you crave a Slurpee Lite, you have to go to Detroit.

 

A relatively new advancement in Slurpee technology is the strata clear cup, which allows Slurpee drinkers with an artistic bent to layer different flavors in a design that is pleasing to both the eye and palate. There is also a split cup, a two-in-one concoction that holds two flavors side by side: the mature person's strata. A plastic divider prevents mixing. Sadly, the split cup is not available in all markets. In other words, come holiday time, only a ucky few will be able to enjoy green Apple Spice next to red Peppermint Candy Cane.

 

Among the flavors we can look forward to in months to come are Surge, a green cola, Pineapple Watermelon, Dragonfruit Plum, Orange Mango and Strawberry Gingerale. The Slurpee technicians are also hard at work on a Barq's Root Beer flavor; Mr. Slurpee tells me it's a definite maybe for 1999.

 

Also on the horizon: Slurpee lip balm. Seriously.

 

"It's a good place to buy a loaf of overpriced Wonder Bread."

-Gideon Brower, Rold Gold Pretzels

 

According to Mr. Slurpee, there is a right way anda wrong way to serve a Slurpee. The right way is to put the dome lid on the cup, put the dome lid under the spout and open the valve slowly.

 

"It's a pressurized machine," says Mr. Slurpee. "If you open the valve too fast, you may lose your cup...It's never hurt anyone, but it can be a little messy."

 

The wrong way, according to the master, is to fill the cup and then put the lid on. "You lose out." In fact, you lose out on about one-third of a cup of Slurpee.

 

Drink responsibly. Lid first. Repeat after me. Lid first.

 

"I Have Slurped"

-Button distributed in-store to Slurpee buyers in late '60s

 

More than a half-million Slurpee drinks are purchased each day. The average age ofa Slurpee customer is 29. However, the core customer, "the most loyal, heavy user," according to Mr. Slurpee, is 16 to 24. Forty-four percent of Slurpee buyers are female. Detroit residents drink the most Slurpees per capita.

 

"You can deal with a lot of customers. You can talk to them. It's a neighborhood store."

-Mohammed, 7-Eleven employee

 

If you want to make Slurpees at home, be prepared to shell out approximately $13,000, the price of the shiny IMI Cornelius machine that makes Slurpees as well as ICEEs...yes, it's the same machine. But is it the same drink?

 

According to Mr. Slurpee, there are "a lot of similarities" between the two products, including the use of yucca extract, a natural foaming agent, in the syrup. However, "many flavors are unique to 7-Eleven." So unique that people actually call the stores looking for specific flavors. Furthermore, "ICEE is sold at a lot of different retailers." Circle K, Target, Wal*Mart, and Fedco to name just a few. "Slurpee is only at 7-Eleven. ICEE is more generic," says the Slurpeemeister. A low blow indeed.

 

In the end, Mr. Slurpee puts it like this: "Slurpee is a state of mind. And you don't have brain freeze with ICEE." Damn.

 

"It's a cheap date."

-Scott Berg, quart of milk

 

 

You Can't Beat Their Meat

Because man cannot live on Slurpees alone, let us move on to what is arguably the most intriguing category (to use Southland speak) at 7-Eleven, the so-called "Meat Snacks." At some stores, "Meat Snacks" appears as an aisle marker. Other stores shelve their meat snacks in an eisle simply marked "Snacks." Still others divide their meat snacks between aisle shelving and a conspicuous display near the register: twice the temptation.

 

What exactly are meat snacks? Mostly beef jerky, though there are a few exceptions.

 

At one West Los Angeles 7-Eleven store, I counted 25 varieties of jerky and jerky-like products. Among the highlights of this store's collection are the Super Slim Slim Jim and the Big Slim, at 69 cents tied for the most affordable title. Top-of-the-line honors went to Pemmican's Natural Style Beef Jerky, available in three distinct formats, including the alluring "Sliced and Shaped Hickory Smoked Original." The price on this gourmet treat? $3.99.

 

Other meat snack standouts include Bulls' Choice line of "Kippered Beef Steak" products - what exactly is kippered beef anyway? - Old Wisconsin Beef Stick, Fire Cracker Giant Smoked Red Hot Sausage and Slim Jim's two-in-one spectacular, the Beef 'n Cheese. Perhaps the most provacative of meat snacks, however, are the massive planks of jerky, vertiable jerky surfboards, from Snak Club. Only the most serious meat snack eater should tackle these.

 

The curious thing about all this jerky is that not once, in the many hours that I spent "saying yes" to 7-Eleven, did I witness a jerky purchase.

 

I asked a Southland Field Consultant if he could shed some light on the jerky mystery. Why, I wondered, did there seem to be a disproportionate amount of shelf space devoted to meat snacks.

 

After agreeing philosophically that this was a "truism," he said that Southland was "in the process of narrowing, compressing, certain categories." Jerky among them. "Ten to 15 is what we recommend."

 

My recommendation? Get yer jerky quick.

 

"7-Eleven's a little better than am/pm. They're dirty."

-Martin "So a lot of girls will be reading my name?" Wolf, Coca-Cola

 

 

Accept No Substitute

7-Eleven has plenty of imitators. Among them are am/pm and the Springfield Kwik-E-Mart, well known to fans of The Simpsons. The former serves ICEEs, but unlike 7-Eleven, which offers four Slurpee flavors at a time, the vast majority of am/pm stores limit customers to only two selections. Plus, am/pm is affiliated with ARCO. Ewww.

 

Kwik-E-Mart, like 7-Eleven, stocks a large selection of beef jerky. It also sells a product similar to the Slurpee called a Squishee. Other notable features include corn dogs basking in the glow of heat lamps, expiration dates that are changed regularly by the store clerk, and numerous hold-ups.

 

Poor Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Kwik-E-Mart's devoted employee. Perhaps he could commiserate with real-life fellow convenience store employee Billa, a three-year veteran of 7-Eleven, who has had his own share of criminal run-ins.

 

Billa's most recent criminal encounter occured around midnight when "two guys with a gun" came in to the West Los Angeles store where he works, a store in a good neighborhood. But no matter. Since all 7-Elevens are created equal, neither customer nor criminal need be inconvenienced driving around to a specific store. 7-Eleven is a democracy.

 

So how did Billa respond? "I gave them what they wanted," he says nonchalantly. "And they left."

 

"Aren't you afraid to work here?" I asked.

 

Billa shakes his head. "It happens. You know it's going to happen so you're prepared. Southland tells you it can happen anytime, but it usually happens at night."

 

Javier, another 7-Eleven employee, recently transferred stores because, after making a police identification following a beer robbery, he "had cholos stalking him."

 

"They're real good to us."

-LAPD officer

"Can I quote you on that?"

-Me

"No. Not unless we go through the department."

"Well, can I see your badge?"

"No."

 

When I ask Southland management about crime, I get sunshiny answers like, "Since 1976, there has been a 70 percent drop in crime." Ex-con turned straight man Roy Johnson had a lot to do with this. Southland hired Johnson in the mid-'70s to advise them on how to beef up store security, how to "reduce reward and increase risk" in Southland-speak, for would-be criminals.

 

His suggestions, now in place, include windows free of excessive signage (so that cops driving by can see if hooded men are inside holding rifles) and low cash levels in the register ($50 max during the day, $30 max at night.) The latter is achieved by frequent cash deposits into a giant, 500-pound, steel-bodied TACC (Time Access Cash Controller) installed under the checkout counter. Other crime deterrents include security cameras, fixed and remote alarm systems, and the height indicator by the door. Those plotting 7-Eleven heists would be well advised to squat upon exiting.

 

After 2 a.m., they come from the nightclubs and they want to buy liquor. But we can't sell it to them, so they start throwing things at us."

-Sisira Wicramarathne, former 7-Eleven employee

 

The average loss per robbery incident at corporate 7-Eleven stores is $37. This is slightly less than the average daily take-home pay of an entry level 7-Eleven employee, who makes between $5.50 to $6.35 an hour. No discounts are offered, but you can sniff the hot dogs when no one's looking. And don't forget that cool 7-Eleven smock.

 

"It's wack. The prices keep going up."

-Andrew De Niese, Nestle Quik Chocolate Milk (was $1, now $1.09)

 

Despite reassurances about reduced crime from the good people at Southland, I am a bit nervous about spending my Saturday night bouncing from one Los Angeles 7-Eleven store to another. But I figure no one would hold up a store while someone was milling about taking notes. Or would they?

 

If I die doing this story, I convince myself I will be like one of those reporters in Bosnia.

 

"It's a stoner heaven."

-Dan "No Last Name Please," waiting for buddies in car

 

The first 7-Eleven I visit, at the corner of Highland and Wilshire, might very well be the city's nexus. Halfway between Downtow Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, and conveniently located near the 10 Freeway, its customer base is more diverse than the cast of Sesame Street. There are white girls in skin-tight pants and glittery blouses, Latino workers in matching Skyline work shirts, black guys in big Mercedes who leave their motors running and their dates in the car, and handsome gay couples with large, impeccably groomed dogs. They buy cigarettes, beer, breath mints, and hot dogs. Everyone leaves the store a little happier than when they entered. You can see it on their faces. Outside, a homeless guy cleans car windows with crumpled newspaper. He takes a forced break when an LAPD officer arrives.

 

When an Assembly of God van pulls into the lot, I imagine the driver buying beer or Penthouse, or, even better, both. Instead, he buys coffee. For obvious reasons, I hope it's not Banana Nut Creme, by far the most disgusting of the five featured choices.

 

The next hour I spend wandering around the store, noting, for example, that security guards are especially fond of 7-Eleven and that Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing is shelved right next to Similac infant formula.

 

At one point, I am the only woman in a roomful of a dozen or so men. Which suggests a question: Are men more into convenience than women, or are women simply less likely to venture out alone on a Saturday night to satisfy a craving? Most of the men who stop in buy beer or cigarettes. One guy reads the Recycler. He looks right at home.

 

Is 7-Eleven a good place to meet men? I once read that if you want to meet men, you should walk around carrying a basketball. 7-Eleven seems slightly more promising.

 

Speaking of romance, this particular store sells single-stem roses in the same refrigerated case as wine, champagne, and coolers. I half-expect a sign nearby to read “Make her night extra special.” Condoms are displayed behind the register.

 

”It’s a good thing. Because if you need beer and all the liquor stores are closed…”

-Karen Wachsmutch, ATM and Breathsavers

 

At the next 7-Eleven I visit, on Vermont and Franklin, there are more tattoos than the Marines. This is Los Feliz, center of the pierced universe. Half the customers either look like Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath, or look like they should be dating him. But no liquor is sold here, so things are a bit slower than at my previous stop.

 

When I ask the turbaned and bearded middle-aged store clerk why the store doesn’t sell beer, he points north. “the school and the church now allow it.”

 

As for adult magazines (which Southland recommends stores not sell, but which many stores sell anyway), he says “never, never.”

 

On the other hand, this is the only 7-Eleven I’ve encountered that carries pagers – Motorola pagers. They’re $39.95. It is also the only store where I am offered a complimentary coffee (by the turbaned employee). Journalistic integrity forcces me to decline.

 

”It’s a place of possibility.”

-Jenji Kohan, Wild Cherry Slurpee

 

On the sidewalk outside the store, a homeless guy named Paul meows at a German shepherd tied to a post. I pretend not to notice, though it’s not easy. Paul’s meow is highly evolved and the shepherd is on alert.

 

Fortunately for the shepherd, and the rest of us, a friend of Paul’s shows up. The two chit-chat for a few minutes. Then it’s time for the friend to do some shopping. Before he walks into the store, Paul shouts: “Watch out for the chili.”

 

It’s a fitting conclusion to an exciting Saturday night. Thank heaven for 7-Eleven, but as Paul says, watch out for the chili.

[Guest RollingSambos]

Fuck this article, I liked the chocolate Slurpee.