7-Eleven is America’s most popular convenience store with its all-night hours, refreshing icy Slurpee drinks, and gas pumps for refueling. Did you know that 7-Eleven was the one to start it all?
In 1927, an employee from the Southland Ice Company decided to start selling essential grocery items like milk and bread along with ice in the evening hours when grocery stores were closed.
The idea was such a hit that all of the chain’s storefronts in Texas followed suit. Over time, they added more items to their store to increase the convenience for their customers.
Eventually, the name of the convenience store changed to Totem then to 7-Eleven. The store boasted that it was open early (at 7 AM) and closed late (at 11 PM).
After a particularly popular football game, the store stayed open all night long. It changed its hours to all day and night on weekends and then to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The 7-Eleven was the first convenience store and the first 24-hour store. It also became the first to develop gas and go, coffee-to-go, self-serve soda drinks, and the ever-popular Slurpee.
Anything you need, day or night, 7-Eleven has got your back thanks to the brilliant business minds of its founders in the late 1920s. Oh, thank heaven for 7-Eleven!
If you liked this, share it with a friend.
