Now that 7-Eleven has opened its doors it’s time to take a look at a few of the differences that customers can expect from the convenience store (see history). Although the company got its name from the morning to night time period that it was open, 7-Eleven is now open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I discovered this while driving past an Elmwood location a couple of days ago at 4:30am. I stopped in to get a cup of coffee and ended up talking with the clerk who was on duty. “I just made a fresh batch of coffee,” she told me. “There are doughnuts too.” She told me that she had been working at Wilson Farms locations for years, and was happy about the conversion. “Our best seller is the roller grill,” she said. “Wilson Farms never had these. The most popular item that we ‘grill’ is the cheeseburger dog… people love them.”
Between the roller grill, the Slurpees, the coffee island, the doughnuts and the extended hours, it looks as if 7-Eleven is attempting to capture part of the Tim Hortons/Dunkin’ Donuts market. Although I probably won’t be calling 7-Eleven my personal convenience store of choice, I do think that 24-hour convenience is a nice feature to have around the corner. I will also add that even though the corner of Summer and Elmwood never got a complete makeover like the one at Auburn and Elmwood (when it was Wilson Farms), I am happy to see new floors along with being generally brighter and cleaner in appearance. The ultimate convenience will be the long hours – in a city where the bars close at 4am, 7-Eleven will definitely expect to see customers in the wee hours of the morning.