32
votes
7/11 closing down 444 locations
Link information
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- Title
- Downtown Silver Spring 7-Eleven Shutting Down August 20
- Authors
- Source of the Spring Staff
- Published
- Aug 18 2025
- Word count
- 334 words
So.... Targeting food deserts where residents may not have the means or time to shop at other food markets
I buy a lot of things from convenience stores when I am predominantly on foot - but if I'm driving to and from work and gotta get my weekly groceries in by car, naturally convenience stores won't get any money from me. North American convenience store hot food also doesn't fill me with confidence or stir my appetite.....
Sheetz and Wawa (and to a lesser extent Rutter's and Turkey Hill) seem to fill this niche surprisingly well in Pennsylvania. 7/11 has some stiff competition on the east coast if they want to go that route. Maybe my view of 7/11's food offerings is outdated, but when I think of them it's mostly just slurpees and gross hotdogs spinning on rollers all day. Whereas with Sheetz/Wawa/Rutters/TH they have actual kitchens where the food's prepped right in front of you with a pretty diverse menu.
Given the choice, I don't know that I'd ever choose 7/11 over any of those other options, even if 7/11 were closer.
I know it's ancedotal, but every 7/11 I've ever been to feels like everyone is there to score illicit drugs first and formost, and the selection there reflects that. A lot more roses in glass tubes.
Source: Went to 7/11 a lot more before marijuana was legalized.
7/11 is where shit goes down. There was one in Oakland, CA, that was robbed 3 separate times in one single day.
One day, hell; with robberies at 8:30, 9:30, and 11:30, those were almost certainly all in one shift. The poor clerk. =(
The 8:30 was AM rather than PM, but it's still wild.
And this is why many places use 24 hour clocks.
There’s a 7/11 across the street from me. And I hate going there because there’re always a skeezy looking character or two hanging around outside. It’s not like this is a bad neighborhood either. It’s in that urban-suburban interface. Lots of people walking their dogs or pushing strollers. Nicer, newish apartments and smaller well-maintained houses. Feels like a yuppie-ish area.
And there’s another down the hill from me a little further. That one I definitely don’t go to. It looks even shadier.
Interesting. They’re like the opposite of Aldi where Aldi is shit where I’m from and well regarded elsewhere. 7/11 is the opposite and generally pretty nice here.
This feels somewhat misleading. Its an article about a local 7/11 closing now, in reference to a decision made sometime in Q3 of 2024.
The article that seems to be the primary source of this info (https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/11/business/7-eleven-closures) is from 10/11/2024.
Not that this isn't worth discussing, just not sure anything about the article reflects changes since the original 10/2024 article was posted.
I feel like a lot of 7/11’s packaged food and drink offerings are behind the times for big chunks of the US market. I’ll believe what they currently have is the right product mix for gas stations and strip malls.
But the mental picture of what a convenience store ought to be hasn’t really changed in decades even as culture and food preferences have. I think for locations meant to serve more affluent or urban/yuppie markets they should summon the US people back to Japan and have them take notes. These are largely not people who are going to buy a hot dog that’s been rolling under a heat lamp for 3 hours. They need lighter, healthier snacks and meals on offer.
Even Wawa has a better following and healthier food options. So they wouldn’t even need to go to Japan necessarily. I just want a sandwich that isn’t 1,000 calories. Or, like, an onigiri. But the ones around me don’t even have gas stations sushi, something even dodgy gas stations have now.
I mean tbh the offerings in Japanese conbinis are pretty unhealthy to begin with.
Yeah there’s def a market for it. Back where I used to live, QuikTrip was the main convenience store and gas station chain in the region. Since they’re all corporate owned, they were clean, well kept, bright, with friendly and professional uniformed staff.
And the grab and go food was a big deal. Didn’t matter what location I was at, whether in more working class or poorer parts of town or more well-to-do parts, people would get their pizzas and hotdogs and breakfast sandwiches from there. Newer ones even had kitchens to order food. And I wouldn’t say those were particularly healthier than the stuff of the rollers or under heat lamps. It was still fast food. Just fresher.
To me, 7/11’s issues are aesthetics and reputation. Most of them just look old, rundown, and dirty. The market is there, but Idk if 7/11 is putting the money in for improvements.
The conbinis I’ve seen in YouTube usually look decent.
Conbini food isn’t exactly healthy per se, but on average it’s healthier and much more fresh than your typical US convenience store offerings. If I were stuck with eating exclusively out of one or the other the choice is obvious.
I can't really agree. Japanse conbini food is loaded with sugar. It may not have as much oil as the things on rollers at American 7-11s, but it has its own killers. The only saving grace is that their portion size is small, but that's not really an attribute of the quality of the food. Most Americans have to eat like 3 items to get remotely full, and that's like 1400+ calories lol.
I agree with you that 7/11 is behind the times in the products they offer.
The quote I found stated that 7/11 is losing ground with middle and lower income people. It didn't mention problems with upper income people. I do think at least middle income people like healthier options though.
I think lacking those options is what sends many people to gas station convenience stores rather than 7/11.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=GAOxJv96VE8