September 2, 2006
Okay – I admit it. I’m having an affair. I’ve fallen in love with 7-Eleven.They were actually my favorite convenience when I was growing up in Texas. Seeing that red, white, and green sign whenever I would fly back to Dallas always gave me a warm feeling inside. I remember how good Slurpees tasted on a hot Texas summer day. I remember collecting bottles for recycling money and picking up a pack of cigarettes for my sister who would let me keep the change. And yes I remember how my heart pounded when I stole just one little piece of candy. I would insist my mom stop at the 7-11 to buy my fieldtrip lunches – no other convenience store would do. I had sadly watched them close one by one over the last twenty years. They used to be at every corner, now there wasn’t a single one in Charlotte and numerous other towns. I knew they had actually begun in Texas so it made sense there were more there than other places but I figured they were slowly dying as the bright new BPs and Citgos spread their green and orange signs across the country.
Imagine my surprise walking across a square in Copenhagen, of all places and looking up to see that familiar sight – a 7-11? In Copenhagen? What the hell was a 7-11 doing in Copenhagen?!! I figured it was some kind of fluke. Ten 7-11s later, it was obvious it wasn’t a fluke. 7-11 appeared to be the most common convenience store in the entire country of Denmark, and again in Sweden where they actually had a 7-11 internet café! But Norway… Norway has it made in the 7-11 market! Okay let’s skip the fact they have a full line of hot food. We’re not talking two day old hotdogs. We’re talking chicken chow mein and several other chinese dishes, pizza, sandwiches, hamburgers and a variety of deli style hot food selections. Skip too the fact they have a real ice cream bar – ice cream that comes in scoops not packages. Forget the fact they have all your standard convenience store trappings. No, what makes them great? The coffee machine.
We’re talking a full coffee selection – everything that is behind the Starbucks counter except you don’t have to ask for it. The machine is Starbucks quality and user friendly with options from an espresso to a latte and everything in between. There, next to the coffee machine is the syrup selection – replete with a huge jug of Godiva chocolate syrup!! You can mix and match and make any kind of coffee you want. AND they have REAL coffee cups. Not the thimbles in Italy, not the four ounce cups in Germany that won’t open one eye half way. No these are REAL coffee cups. American sized!
You can actually predict how Americanized a society is by how large their coffee cups are. We could share citizenship with these guys. As if that wasn’t enough to take me straight to heaven – the price for a fill-er-up, create-my-own, hazelnut-chocolate-cinamon delight? About $3. Now keep in mind Norway is THE most expensive place in Europe – more than Switzerland, more than London. I was there for a month and never had one meal at a restaurant. My diet consisted of two or three 7-11 coffees a day and a snack. The coffees were the only affordable thing in the country and I made the most of them!
So walking into two or three 7-11s a day, I couldn’t help but wonder why they were so wonderful in Scandinavia and dying out in America. I finally consulted Gallant Google and the Wonderful World Wide Web. It was fascinating what I learned about an icon of my childhood. Did you know that…..
· July 11 (7/11) is the official birthday of the 7-Eleven chain. It began in 1927 when an employee of Southland Ice Company in Dallas started selling milk, eggs, and bread from the ice dock. Soon, the convenience store was born and became known as 7-Eleven to reflect the 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. hours of operation;
· There are only 5,800 stores in the US and Canada but almost 28,000 world wide, making it the largest convenience chain in the world;
· 7-Eleven was the first to … operate 24 hours a day … sell fresh-brewed coffee in to-go cups ... have a self-serve soda fountain … and offer super-size drinks;
· 7-Eleven had the first television advertising by any convenience store; the animated commercial featured a singing owl and rooster ran in 1949;
· 7-Eleven was the first c-store retailer to give customers “freedom of choice” by offering all major soft drink brands at the fountain
Wish they’d get those damn coffee machines in America!
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