7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Alpha8472
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7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

A new Evolution Store with a Laredo Taco Company restaurant inside is now open in Washington, DC.

It looks really great. The restaurant looks like something that could do very well even on its own. The rest of the store looks like it has a much better selection of food than a regular 7-Eleven. Finally, 7-Eleven is offering something that can compete with the best of the best convenience stores out there. It almost looks like a mini-Whole Foods with all of the prepared foods. There is a huge selection of specialty fruit drinks. I would like to try the ice cream machines. That is something that you cannot find at a regular 7-Eleven. The video of the store makes the store look huge. I do not know of any 7-Elevens in my area that have that much space.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/prepare ... ion-stores
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by pseudo3d »

Alpha8472 wrote: February 29th, 2020, 2:45 pm A new Evolution Store with a Laredo Taco Company restaurant inside is now open in Washington, DC.

It looks really great. The restaurant looks like something that could do very well even on its own. The rest of the store looks like it has a much better selection of food than a regular 7-Eleven. Finally, 7-Eleven is offering something that can compete with the best of the best convenience stores out there. It almost looks like a mini-Whole Foods with all of the prepared foods. There is a huge selection of specialty fruit drinks. I would like to try the ice cream machines. That is something that you cannot find at a regular 7-Eleven. The video of the store makes the store look huge. I do not know of any 7-Elevens in my area that have that much space.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/prepare ... ion-stores
The idea of a prototype store is to explore ideas to spread throughout the chain, or create a top-tier design for the best locations. When 7-Eleven has so many dirty, decrepit locations as-is, it seems a bit absurd to try to push this...
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Yes, the store looks good. And the stuff they are offering is probably good too. The problem is: It just is not consistent with the 7-Eleven operation. That operation that is mostly franchise model, usually only one employee on duty at a time (the franchisee often times), and is in a 40 year old building with a lot of equipment that is 25 years old since the last time any real remodeling was done was in the 90's, and even then, that was with limited capex.

They probably need to use another name for customers to take them very seriously with this.

Consistency is key with convenience stores. This is why Quik Trip and other successful c-store operators actively replace older stores. Thing is those older stores of the "better" c-store operators were already decades ahead of the typical 7-Eleven.

7-Eleven hasn't built a new store in my market, where they are far and away the dominant c-store operator (two Circle Ks in this region that has 50+ 7-Elevens and at least 20 Jacksons/Extra Mile locations), in over a decade. Every location is franchise run except some temporarily turn into corporate locations if they are between operators. Some 7-Elevens are so poorly performing the corporation actually pays the franchisee to run them and there are a number of those in my area also. And their last new store looks nice outside but inside it is not really much different from a 40 year old location in size or appearance. Other operators like Maverik have built about 10 very nice new stores that despite higher pricing than 7-Eleven and slower service, have been very well received and are very popular since they are big, new, and have a lot of variety.
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by Super S »

While I don't spend much time at 7-Eleven, I will say that they always struck me as a chain that could make improvements to the appearance of their stores and staffing. They always seem to have a better than average product selection but the store experience often leaves a lot to be desired.
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by buckguy »

I haven't gotten around to visiting the new 7-11 at Mt Vernon Square, but 7-11 in DC doesn't exactly fit your stereotype anymore. They began opening new stores about 10 years ago (after a couple decades of doing nothing) and have been updating existing stores more recently. The stores have always varied a lot here---the one near where I live is tiny, the one near where I work is quite large and both have multiple people staffing them during most of the day and both have been around forever.

Wawa has entered the market over the last couple stores with stores that have a lot of prepared food which is probably motivating stores like this new one here, although they apparently have a number like it in Texas,. But even Wawa has really variable stores--some pretty simple with most space given to c-store stuff, others with multiple food stations and much more prepared food than c-store stuff.
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by jamcool »

7-11 has a lot of problems with its franchisees and vise versa. I know in Phoenix most of the 7-11s-and there are very few here anymore-have stopped selling gas.
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by storewanderer »

jamcool wrote: March 3rd, 2020, 1:48 pm 7-11 has a lot of problems with its franchisees and vise versa. I know in Phoenix most of the 7-11s-and there are very few here anymore-have stopped selling gas.
Most places with legitimate c-store operators (like Quik Trip), 7-Eleven has been effectively killed off. They are few and far between. Where they are, is usually not the best neighborhood.

I didn't even know 7-Eleven operated in Phoenix. I figured Circle K had that pretty well wrapped up after buying most of the competitors over the years after they already had a high store count to begin with.

7-Elevens stop selling gas when the corporation decides it is not profitable anymore. The franchisee has no say in the matter. In my area a number of the small older ones that had a couple pumps stopped selling gas, some other small older ones now only offer one grade of fuel. 7-Eleven has not upgraded many locations in my area to Chip Card accepting gas pump hardware (let alone software) yet as the majority still have old 2000era Gilbarco Advantage pumps and it will be interesting to see what they do. It isn't just smaller locations that haven't been upgraded but even the newer ones from the late 90's or early 00's with 12 pumps that do good gas volume, have not upgraded.

Another thing I have seen happen is there will be some little settlements in remote areas 20 minutes out of town that have an old 7-Eleven from the 70's or 80's. Captive audience. In a couple of these cases, either Family Dollar or Dollar General has found the said little remote settlement and opened a store. This has a serious impact on 7-Eleven.
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by arizonaguy »

storewanderer wrote: March 3rd, 2020, 11:04 pm
jamcool wrote: March 3rd, 2020, 1:48 pm 7-11 has a lot of problems with its franchisees and vise versa. I know in Phoenix most of the 7-11s-and there are very few here anymore-have stopped selling gas.
Most places with legitimate c-store operators (like Quik Trip), 7-Eleven has been effectively killed off. They are few and far between. Where they are, is usually not the best neighborhood.

I didn't even know 7-Eleven operated in Phoenix. I figured Circle K had that pretty well wrapped up after buying most of the competitors over the years after they already had a high store count to begin with.

7-Elevens stop selling gas when the corporation decides it is not profitable anymore. The franchisee has no say in the matter. In my area a number of the small older ones that had a couple pumps stopped selling gas, some other small older ones now only offer one grade of fuel. 7-Eleven has not upgraded many locations in my area to Chip Card accepting gas pump hardware (let alone software) yet as the majority still have old 2000era Gilbarco Advantage pumps and it will be interesting to see what they do. It isn't just smaller locations that haven't been upgraded but even the newer ones from the late 90's or early 00's with 12 pumps that do good gas volume, have not upgraded.

Another thing I have seen happen is there will be some little settlements in remote areas 20 minutes out of town that have an old 7-Eleven from the 70's or 80's. Captive audience. In a couple of these cases, either Family Dollar or Dollar General has found the said little remote settlement and opened a store. This has a serious impact on 7-Eleven.
7-Eleven is still in Phoenix (distant third in location count behind Circle K and Quik Trip) but their locations are all 1970s - 2000/2001 build (and the vast majority of the locations are from the 1970s and 1980s and all locations don't look like they've received much, if any updates since they were opened).

Phoenix is basically Circle K / Quik Trip country (which is amazing since Quik Trip only entered the market in 2000 and all of their locations are new builds) and even bad Circle Ks are better than the average 7-Eleven.

7-Eleven's store base in Tucson is, on average, older than in Phoenix but Speedway has 29 locations in Tucson that are about on par with Circle K (so a step to many steps up from a typical Arizona 7-Eleven).

I don't believe any Tucson 7-Eleven store sells gas whereas every Speedway location does.
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: March 3rd, 2020, 11:04 pm
jamcool wrote: March 3rd, 2020, 1:48 pm 7-11 has a lot of problems with its franchisees and vise versa. I know in Phoenix most of the 7-11s-and there are very few here anymore-have stopped selling gas.
Most places with legitimate c-store operators (like Quik Trip), 7-Eleven has been effectively killed off. They are few and far between. Where they are, is usually not the best neighborhood.

I didn't even know 7-Eleven operated in Phoenix. I figured Circle K had that pretty well wrapped up after buying most of the competitors over the years after they already had a high store count to begin with.

7-Elevens stop selling gas when the corporation decides it is not profitable anymore. The franchisee has no say in the matter. In my area a number of the small older ones that had a couple pumps stopped selling gas, some other small older ones now only offer one grade of fuel. 7-Eleven has not upgraded many locations in my area to Chip Card accepting gas pump hardware (let alone software) yet as the majority still have old 2000era Gilbarco Advantage pumps and it will be interesting to see what they do. It isn't just smaller locations that haven't been upgraded but even the newer ones from the late 90's or early 00's with 12 pumps that do good gas volume, have not upgraded.

Another thing I have seen happen is there will be some little settlements in remote areas 20 minutes out of town that have an old 7-Eleven from the 70's or 80's. Captive audience. In a couple of these cases, either Family Dollar or Dollar General has found the said little remote settlement and opened a store. This has a serious impact on 7-Eleven.
A fair number of 7-Eleven stores in the state of Oregon do not sell gas. I always thought this had more to do with the fact that Oregon has a law where you are not allowed to pump your own gas. Most Plaid Pantry stores also do not sell gas. But many other operators in Oregon such as AM/PM and Jacksons do sell gas so it's hard to say.
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Re: 7-Eleven Opens Up More Evolution Stores

Post by storewanderer »

Super S wrote: March 4th, 2020, 6:19 am
storewanderer wrote: March 3rd, 2020, 11:04 pm
jamcool wrote: March 3rd, 2020, 1:48 pm 7-11 has a lot of problems with its franchisees and vise versa. I know in Phoenix most of the 7-11s-and there are very few here anymore-have stopped selling gas.
Most places with legitimate c-store operators (like Quik Trip), 7-Eleven has been effectively killed off. They are few and far between. Where they are, is usually not the best neighborhood.

I didn't even know 7-Eleven operated in Phoenix. I figured Circle K had that pretty well wrapped up after buying most of the competitors over the years after they already had a high store count to begin with.

7-Elevens stop selling gas when the corporation decides it is not profitable anymore. The franchisee has no say in the matter. In my area a number of the small older ones that had a couple pumps stopped selling gas, some other small older ones now only offer one grade of fuel. 7-Eleven has not upgraded many locations in my area to Chip Card accepting gas pump hardware (let alone software) yet as the majority still have old 2000era Gilbarco Advantage pumps and it will be interesting to see what they do. It isn't just smaller locations that haven't been upgraded but even the newer ones from the late 90's or early 00's with 12 pumps that do good gas volume, have not upgraded.

Another thing I have seen happen is there will be some little settlements in remote areas 20 minutes out of town that have an old 7-Eleven from the 70's or 80's. Captive audience. In a couple of these cases, either Family Dollar or Dollar General has found the said little remote settlement and opened a store. This has a serious impact on 7-Eleven.
A fair number of 7-Eleven stores in the state of Oregon do not sell gas. I always thought this had more to do with the fact that Oregon has a law where you are not allowed to pump your own gas. Most Plaid Pantry stores also do not sell gas. But many other operators in Oregon such as AM/PM and Jacksons do sell gas so it's hard to say.
So many 7-Eleven locations are so historic that they were from the era when gas stations and convenience stores were separate businesses, hence no gas sales. I think at least half of the 50 or so in my area have no fuel and at least a dozen of those have had their gas pumps removed in the past decade.

I think at this point most new build 7-Elevens have gas. New locations in big cities in downtowns of course don't have gas.
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