I took a job as a clerk a 7/11, my first job right out of high school. I loved that job and got to know all of the customers. I loved working there and stayed working part-time for years. Great memories
I remember walking to 7-Eleven stores in the '60s as a kid in Texas... in heat of 100 degrees...just to get a Slurpee. The walk back home seemed a lot cooler....LOL!
@@coloradostrong I now own some of those. In Houston, there's a place called The Game Preserve. One in Webster the other in The Woodlands. $15.00 to get in and all of the games you can play for free.
@@marka.graffakasnakebitenat3736 I worked on those and delivered them to game rooms for 20 years. The 7-11 game rooms were the worst for break-in. We finally made them pretty much tamper proof then they would rip the entire side of the machine off, or if they could not break into it they would piss in the coin slots. All in your "under privileged " communities.
In 1964 I used to walk to the local U-Totem store on the corner where I lived to get cigarettes for Dad. He gave me 25 cents and a note to give to the clerk. That's all a 9-year-old needed to buy cigarettes back then. America was still free then! Oh, thank heaven!
Hah! Same here! In the 1950's and early '60's, my mom would give me 35 cents and send me out for cigarettes. Hard to believe those days ever existed! No seat belts in the cars, adults smoking wherever they chose! How did we ever survive?
Yep, we had a U-Totem down the street from us in 1964 as well.....17th st. Santa Ana California. I also would take a note from my mother to buy her a pack of cigarettes as well. If fact, things were so loose, that I could go into a bar with my dad as he boozed it up.......probably was not a good idea; but I was a kid, and it all seemed normal to me. Anyway, thanks for the great story.
@@louc4130 When my older brother and sisters were kids(in the 60's), they used to go down to the the bar where my dad would frequent after he got paid. My mom would send them there to collect his money so he wouldnt spend it on booze and babes.🤣 In the 70's, my dad would give me a dollar to go to the store and buy a pack of Winston cigarettes and they would sell them to me🤣, times have changed.
@@elwin38 I know what that's like too. We hardly had two nickles to rub together, so my mother did not like the idea that my dad would baby sit us at the bar while spending money that was in short supply. Thanks so much for a reply that many of us can relate to back then. Take care.
I’ve been a subscriber for about a year now. This by far was my favorite video yet!! Having grown up in the 70’s-‘80’s, I spent many hours at my local 7/11, which was a 7 min walk from my house, playing the video game Galaga with my Big Gulp sitting on top….and $2 in quarters lined up to play. Thanks for your great content!!
I remember collecting all the plastic slurpee cups with superheroes and other characters during the early 70’s. I still stop in for other items and sometimes the coffee. There are quite a few in my traveling area, so I go quite a bit
Used to go to the 7-11 in Chicago after I get off work driving pizzas in the early 80s and play Galaga a couple of times. That was my game, 1 game could last 1/2 hour easy getting into the 40s level. Oh and Tim, early 70s were baseball players.
I rarely went to 7/11 in the 70's because they were too far from my neighborhood. When i worked my Summer job in 1985, there was a 7/11 down the street and when we got paid we feasted on them. I would buy 2 foot long chili dogs, large doritos, and a large coke slurpee 😋✌🏾
One of my happiest memories involved 7-11! In the late 60s, Mr. Rogers was just beginning and I watched him on PBS from the first day he aired in my city (he had been on in other areas already). A little less than a month later, mama had to run to the 7-11 to get a couple of things. We were instructed to stay in the car. Since 7-11 had those big open fronts, it was easy for her to watch us. Our eyes were not focused on her, though. It was focused on a man who was bagging groceries - he was helping the store owner out. This was in the early evening and that store was busy! Yet, I cried out the window "Mr. Rogers!" . He looked up and smiled, then I cried out again and my 2 sisters joined me. We were so excited!!!!!!!!!! He blushed and was very humble and tried not to say anything. We were just so thrilled when he waved to us, gave us another smile, that we were jumping for joy. Then right there in the store, he began to sing his song "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" among the surprise of the customers (though they did not complain about it). Most did not know who he was, but we sure did! And that he would go out of the way to acknowledge us little girls, despite the fact he was shy about it, gave a lasting impression. I never found out why he was there and who he was visiting (I know he was continuing to plug his show in the area), but it was a precious memory that I hold dear here several decades later. Many times we had gone to that 7-11 before that and after (although we girls kept watching just in case he would return to help out). Years later I looked on Google maps to find that 7-11 is still there and got more current pictures. The open front had been glassed and concrete in. Oh, I enjoyed that nice opening that made it unique.
I remember buying Duncan yoyo's there and remember in the summer my friends and I would buy slurpies, play pin ball and sit in front of the store with are bikes. What a beautiful time!
LOLOL🤣....funny you would say that. When i would ride in my older brothers car, he would have some of these same cups lying around in the front and back seat of his car .It was his "work" car. He was a carpenter and had all kinds of work materials and junk in that car.
Lol it wasn’t enough that the public could now get 32oz of soft drink in a cup per person. Because of the Big Gulp’s popularity, “demand increased for the SuperGulp and ExtremeGulp.” Even more than 32oz??? How much soda was that? Wow... It’s no wonder we’re enormous as a country, chugging half a gallon of soda.
I certainly remember the first 7/11 store where I lived in the 1960’s. We rode our bicycles there. It was the only store open on Sunday! Blasphemous indeed. Also the prices were higher for things you could usually get elsewhere. Thanks
My 7-11 was just a five minute bike ride from my house. I used to go in, get a Dr. Pepper Big Gulp and play Pac Man or read the comic books. I became friends with the owner, Rick, who would occasionally have me pick up the garbage in the parking lot in exchange for free Big Gulps or nachos. Sadly, like so many other places from my childhood, it's gone now. But I remember it every time I go into a Sev.
Thanks for the memory. It reminds me of how we used to know our grocery clerks and convenience store clerks. Now it's more like "just pay and go, next!"
I remember back in the early 80s Jerry Lewis used to do commercials for 7/11. I did like getting slurpees during the summer when I was a kid. Now it seems as if their everywhere, and the store has a different feel to it. I guess it's because I was younger and everything seemed better 🤔
Things have changed. Japan owns the company now. Wish we has the stuff offered in Tokyo! I hear their Starbucks, McDonald's, and Mr. Donuts are all more creative with their menus
I think you mean “they’re” ( they are). Have you been to Bangkok lately? There’s a 7 Eleven about every 50 meters. In 2004 there was a cartoon in the Bangkok Post with a map of Bangkok. Everything was a 7 Eleven and that was pretty much true. It’s magic traveling thousands of miles to an exotic foreign country and see 7 Eleven and McDonald’s everywhere and Burger King. I was in Milan in August 1999 and there were six McDonald’s right by the famous cathedral downtown. Yep travel to Italy to eat a Big Mac. I have eaten at McDonald’s in Canada, USA, England, Italy, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, Japan and Thailand. All the same and 7 Eleven wasn’t far away. This is globalism. Although I preferred Wendy’s in Greece.
Wow that brought back a flood of memories. 7-11 was where I would get my comic books as a kid, on the spinning metal racks. The penny candy at the bottom of the junk food aisle. Collecting the various plastic themed slurpee cups, quickly becoming the most common cup in my house, we saved them until they cracked. So many good memories. Always wanted a root beer slurpee, but I spoke to some Southland execs one day and they said it was the worse selling flavor of all time. Sad. An odd slightly off topic memory is the rival chain of convenience stores, U-Totems, which came to mind with the totem themed 7-11's you mentioned.
I had the same experience as a kid! My first Experience with 7-Eleven was in Elk Grove Village Illinois in 1972. I used to go there at least once a week to check out the new comic books on the spinner rack.
I remember a “special” 7-11 that was right next to a cemetery and a park. My 1st boyfriend and I bought slushees and took them to the cemetery to talk. That’s where I experienced my first kiss. Ahhh memories. ❤️
@@jimconaty6218 in LA theres a famous cemetery called Hollywood Forever, very beautiful, and its a landmark for LA, they even have movie nights lol, as is shown in the movie Valentines Day :)
Growing up in Dallas TX in the 50's, 7-11 was certainly a popular place. They all had rollup doors that were always open except in the most inclement weather. I still remember riding my bike to the 7-11 on Oak Lawn near Wycliff for a soda pop out of one of the soda pop chests, always out front and full of ice so cold you thought your hand would freeze before you decided what flavor you wanted They had every brand of soda pop made but especially Dr Pepper which was made and bottled just a couple of mile away on Greenville and Mockingbird. Another item that I remember from 7-11 was the Hot Links. They were sealed in a plastic bag and sold hot out of a big white roaster...an open loaf of Mrs. Bairds bread (another Dallas icon) was close by for the customer to receive one slice of bread per link. The were the best hot links I've ever had.
Very good. I remember living in Phoenix in the 80s, 7 Eleven and Circle K fighting each other hard for the market, and locations on intersections. Which ever one you could access by making a right turn was the one you chose.
Hahahah that’s pretty interesting , I liked going to 7 11 ever since I loved to Avon , it’s actually starting to become my favorite store too , where are you from
Thanks for sharing, and those that commented. I believe alot can be by comforted by Elvis's song, Memories. God bless y'all, and have a safe, healthy, and happy 4th of July.
When I was a pre-teen in 1970s Florida, I would walk to the 7/11 in St. Augustine Shores and buy an impressive stack of comics for two or three dollars, and my entertainment was set for the week. You can't even buy one new comic book for three bucks anymore.
Late 60's to mid 70's as kids we bought candy bars for 15 cents...also Florida. I see them in convenience stores now for $2.29. About the same for a soda.
In the mid 70's in St. Petersburg, Florida, my brother and I would ride our bikes to the 7-11 to buy baseball cards. I wish I still had those cards today.
I grew up in Davis shores in the 70s and 80s I remember that store !! class of 84 SAHS went in USAF in 86 retired 2007 live in st Pete now but planning to move back to st aug after the new year
Oh, thank heaven, Recollection Road did a feature on the 7-11 chain! Some of the history of the chain I didn't know. Thanks! In my area, eastern Pennsylvania 7-11 was big in the '60s, 70s, '80s & 90s. There is much competition from regional chains as WaWa & Sheetz that 7-11 shut down some stores.
Me too they had this one pinball machine it was never changed . I mastered it in 1976 and got lots of " Special " and " Pops " and " Match " . What a fun summer ! 😀
My dad was elected President of the Texas Retail Grocer’s Association in 1955, and had meetings with 7/11 executives. After those meetings, he decided that he would expand his grocery business from super markets to convenience stores. When my parents sold the company to Circle K, they had 126 stores in South Texas. My sisters and I just finalized the final piece of real property we inherited related to the stores. We each chose different fields of study and professions. I do enjoy reflecting back on the business that gave us our work ethics, which were instilled by our parents at a very early age.
Hahahah that’s pretty interesting , I liked going to 7 11 ever since I loved to Avon , it’s actually starting to become my favorite store too , where are you from
One of my recent memories of this store was from the beginning of the pandemic when the one near my house closed down for a few weeks. I couldn’t believe it and had never seen one of these stores close. There used to be a joke about someone being as useless as a door lock on a 7 Eleven
Hahahah that’s pretty interesting , I liked going to 7 11 ever since I loved to Avon , it’s actually starting to become my favorite store too , where are you from
I remember as a kid how good a BIG GULP with lots of ice tasted back in the 70's- the employee would fill your drink behind the counter. Now , most stores are nasty, smelly, and don't even have good tasting soda anymore. Here in L.A. there's panhandlers and tweakers outside and rude employees that don't give a shit!
My wife and I met over the hot dog machine at a store in Arlington. Texas in 1976. We got married in 1979. We have lots of good memories working together for them. We went to the 50th anniversary picnic that they had at Sandy Lake Park in Dallas in 1977. "Oh Thank Heaven for 50 Wonderful Years".
Growing up as a kid, we would go to 7-11 at least once a week for a slurpee. When I got a bit older, I would walk to one down the street and just hang out for a bit while having my frozen drink. Oh Thank Heaven, for this video.
I was just 8-years old back in the summer of 1972 when my home town was devastated by Hurricane Agnus. Many homes and businesses were lost in the flood including my own home so while my family waited for our HUD trailer to arrive (the temporary housing available while things got cleaned up) we rented a tiny apartment on the third floor of an old, stately home high on the hill. Nearly every evening that summer, my older brother and I would walk down the hill into a city that was still mostly in the dark because of the flood, but for the bright lights shining from the 7-11 store, like a beacon in the night. We'd wander in and get our slupees (mine was Coke and his was Cherry) and stroll back up that tree-lined street back to our temporary home and, for a little while, in the midst of a world turned upside down, things would almost seem normal again...I've had a special fondness for 7-11 stores (and slurpees) ever since. Thank you for sharing its history with us.
@@samanthab1923 Interesting...so is Dick Goodwin, a former speechwriter for JFK and the guy behind Robert Redford's movie "Twenty-One" about the TV quiz show scandals of the late 50s.
I grew up in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas Texas in the 60's. My grandmother's house was directly across the street from the very first 7-11 located at the corner of Twelfth and Edgefield. I would pick up empty soft drink bottles and take them to that 7-11 and sell them to buy candy and other snacks. The Store Managers name was Tom Sparks. I always respected Mr. Sparks. I'm not sure, but I think he may have been in the military, his uniform which was a white shirt, and dark slacks always looked sharp and he wore a flat top hair cut. I remember he always answered the phone "7-11, number one, Tom speaking".
7-11 disappeared from Houston when I was a kid. Now they’re back. I’ve been wearing my local 7-11 out at it has a Laredo Taco Company. Lot of good food at 7-11 for tha cheap.
@@thatxonexguy5438 Strongly agree. Usually when served tortillas on the side of a meal I don’t eat them because “why bother?”. Their tortillas are excellent though; worth eating them by themselves.
I loved 7/11 as a kid. I loved the coke, cherry, raspberry, and later the orange slurpees. To me they had the best hot dogs and chili dogs around. They left the Memphis area between the late 80's-early 90's so the only time i get to go to 7/11 is when i go to the Dallas area when i visit relatives or in laws.
LOL The last time I was in a 7/11 was many years ago. It was Thanksgiving Day, and my mother asked me to pick up a bag of ice on my way to her house. Only the 7/11 was open that day. That’s the only thing I bought.
^_^ These videos are great, get some "History Lessons" as to how a product or store came about as one enjoys sweet memories of the past, thanx for your work. Your videos ALWAYS bring back fond memories of what seems like 100's of years ago to me, as if the past were but a dream.
Used to hit 7-11 all the time growing up in the 80s for some nachos, hot dogs, candy and super big gulp's.. It was just a staple of the community that we took for granted. I still hit them up, mostly for drinks and lottery tickets these days. Feels like a good thing that they've survived all these years through all the competition.
I remember the first 7-11 stores opening up here in Bakersfield in the early 1960s when I was in grade school. They were like mini grocery stores with food items like canned foods & soups and I even remember ironing boards and house hold cleaning items. And of course Slurpees were the best, as long as you liked them as Coke or cherry flavor, in the beginning.
I remember my cousins lived near South High and we'd walk to 7-Eleven on White Lane after playing baseball on the fields there at the school. Get a big bag of Doritos and a huge Slurpee! Good times.
@@CiscoDuck Yeah the first one I remember was up here on University Ave. In the early 70s, when I was in high school, the owner wanted me to work there for him but I declined, I could see my friends coming in wanting me to sell them beer. :-(
@@davidpayton8336 You went to North High? The 7~11 we walked to on White Lane was in the early 70's. It wasn't far from Jay's Coffee Shop. WE all used to go there for breakfast. ;)
@@davidpayton8336 Oh, ok. I had cousins at Foothill, East High and South High. I was from southern CA and spent most of my summers up there. Lotsa great memories. :)
Long before the slurpee, as a tike in the late 50s I remember stores selling snow cones which was a cone shaped cup with crushed ice covered with a fruity syrup.
I remember in high school, after prom, a bunch of us went to 7-11. That must've been a sight for the employees, seeing the 7 of us march in wearing our prom dresses, loading up on Slurpees and snacks before going to the midnight movies. I remember another time in high school, I was sleeping over at a friend's house one weekend, and we suddenly got late night craving for Moon Pies. There was a 7-11 around the corner from her house, so we walked over there. I want to visit the 7-11's in Japan. They look amazing.
I’m a new subscriber! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. As a child in the 1970s, my mom would take me to 7-11 after my softball games for a cola slurpee. We had to order it, not self serve, and only two flavors as mentioned. In the 1980s I took a job at 7/11. Thanks again for the video and pictures. It brought back great memories.
Awesome documentary for us in the south that LIVE on 7-11’s! Thank you! ❤️ It’s the BEST too get a slurpee for the kids after a day, on the hot Florida beach!!!✌🏽Sandy feet, tired kids- Oh thank Heaven for 7-11! Makes for a quiet trip home 👍🏽
The first 7-11 I remember was built down the street from our house around 1969. That was just about the same time they got rid of the Blue Law of no stores open on Sunday and when most stores closed around 8-9:00pm. To have a convenience store open so early and stay open so late and do it 7 days a week was a real treat.
In 3 different cities where I lived in the 1970's , I was exactly a block and a half away from a 7-11 store. The pattern ended after I moved into 711 Post Street. It was a surprising coincidence.
LOL, riding our sleds (snowmobiles) to Innisfail, into town to have the self serve burgers in the winter. Literally went there for everything we could. Burgers were so good.
The 7eleven by my house has been there for as long as I can remember and is still going strong till this day, they have even opened a couple new ones recently near by, when we where younger my sister and I would walk to ours to load up on snacks, my sister loved the Slurpees, she would mix all the flavors lol
They’re all over Virginia Beach.I lived there 3 1/2 years and it’s one of things I miss since I moved on.Had one down the road from me.I loved their huge hot dogs and coffee.❤️💖
I remember the 7-11 we had in Gretna LA, when I was 10, they started to offer the Icee, with a polar bear logo. I don't know if anyone else remembers the days before they became Slurpee. Great video! Sure brings back memories of summer, and Sting Ray bikes!
Were they the cups that were white, black, blue and red with a cartoon picture of a polar bear on them ? If I'm not mistaken, Woolworths sold them too.......they were not pre made from the machines, you had to add the flavor syrup in the cup then add the Ice in the cup....am I correct ?
@@jpolar394 Yes, I remember the red and blue with the white Polar Bear, but we had them already mixed in the machine. Only 2 flavors, Cola and Wild Cherry. We used to mix them half and half.
Your photo of the kids on their stingrays in front of the store brought back memories. That was us! Sometimes it was skateboards instead of bikes. The old style boards that were rough and ready though you'd better not hit a pebble or you'll go flying. Ah good times.
Went to high school with a guy I used talk to, he used to tell me he wanted a 7-11 store someday. We all would gather at night at 7-11 parking lot and check out the girls this was in the early 70's. We would laugh at him because he wanted a part time job at 7-11. In 1989 he owned 9 7-11 franchises, he is now MILLIONAIRE...His son followed his dad's footsteps he owns 6 7-11's in Hawaii...
Newport was the first pack of smokes I bought as well, for 42-cents. I bought it at the mom and pop store down the street though. There wasn't a 7-11 in my neighborhood at that time. I got off the menthols after about a year but unfortunately, that first pack led to too many more over the years. Been off them for almost three-years now but the damage has been done. I do remember my friends saying if smokes ever got to a buck a pack they would quit. Of course, they said the same thing about gas, that they would walk rather than pay a buck a gallon. Well, almost all of them were they were puffing away on their buck a pack smokes as they drove in their gas guzzlers a short time later. The old days.
OMG - I had forgotten about the TV tube testing/vending stations! It was the place to go when it looked like a tube had gone bad. And grabbing the bikes and riding to 7-11 for an Icee on a summer afternoon was a treat!
My favorite memory of 7-11 was in the late 70's-early 80-s was going there to play pinball/Classic video games, I could ride my bike there, arcades were too far away. Also getting a Slurpee with my Dad before Monday night football games during the same period. Good times.
I have so many great memories of 7-11. On Sundays we use to play baseball on Lincoln Road in Oak Park Mi. After the game we all went to 7-11 on Lincoln and Greenfield in Oak Park Mi. Everyone in the neighborhood would go there to get a large slurpee. The year 1975 and 1976. Later came the BIG GULP. One year there scratch off with your slurpee and I won a free bicycle. I believe 7-11 is still there in oak park Mi a popular stop for the neighborhood.
This was back in the late 80s, but I remember them having these ground sausage breakfast things. They were about double the diameter of a hotdog, and about the same length, and were on hotdog potato rolls in those thin flip top thin cardboard hot dog boxes. I used to get three of them on my way to work every morning and put a pretty healthy dose of jalapeño nacho cheese sauce on them, grab a 44oz Super Big Gulp Coke and call it breakfast.
I worked at 7- eleven from 1974-1993....saw many changes from hand dipped ice cream to serving slices of fresh pizza and meatball subs! I saw the neighborhood grow and change over 20 years..a wonderful and memorable part of my life
A couple of elderly neighbors of mine, don't drive and wont the take bus. They get their entire grocery and food from 7/11. I offer to give them a ride to the grocery store and they Just say "No thank you, we shop at the 7/11"
@@t-squared6406 The 7/11 in this area is pretty good sized. They have a good amount of cooked foods as well. Its really like no other 7/11 I have ever seen.
I never get tired of this channel! GREAT soothing music and awesome content, it's amazing how much I learn with each installment. Thank you for your information and entertainment, you don't know how much I appreciate you.
There was a 7-11 just a short walk from our house in Lakewood, Colorado. Next door was Mr. Duane Counce's auto repair and gas, who took care of Mom and Dad's cars. He changed out our tires for snow tires in September, stored the regular tires, then changed them back in the Spring. The 7-11, at the time, was completely open in the front, with accordion doors that slid to the right and left at 7 AM and closed up at 11 PM. Dad bought stacks of comics for us kids (and himself, although he wouldn't admit it) almost every weekend. And we loved the Icees. Collected the bears from the cups.🥰🥰🥰
You don't have to spend on a US Passport and a visa document. Today's Japanese corporate owners of 7-11 have opened a few stores on HI on the Japanese mold rather than the American. You can get there (first one was in Honolulu, Oahu) many of the Japanese-style prepared foods seen on many food-related YT creator accounts (I can recommend several of Mikey Chen's accounts or Emmy Cho's, but there are many others to Google on). You can sustain on more of those Asian foods far better than you can the American Gas Shop fare...
Very cool, and informative. I remember as a kid, the 7-11 prominence. My cousin Ricky, who lived in Los Gatos, had a bunch of "Hot to Go" round red stickers. Later in my teen years I worked at a couple different 7-11 stores in South San Fran, and each featured a business owner who worked this biz oppty while serving a popular need and market. 24 hours, 365 days, variety of stuff. I remember stocking the refrigerated stuff, wearing the store "jacket" due to temperature in there, hehe. Thank you Carol, Richard, and Hugh Babilla for the opportunity to learn things that serve me to this day.
@@samanthab1923 ....On the corner of New Durham road and Talmadge ? Man that area changed so much in the last 20 years. Almost no more industrial work there no more. A friend of mine, his brother was the plant manager of I think the place was called Continental Container. It was right next door to the Foodtown warehouse.
When I was little, my dad and I would go on our Saturday morning drives in his Porsche, cranking up the Eagles, the Doors, all the classic music and we would drive to a 7-11 for him to get a cup of coffee and me my morning candy. I remember him telling me, “Don’t tell your mother that I allow you to have candy in the morning, or else she will kill me!” 😂 My dad still has a Porsche, and I wish I can rewind time and redo those Saturday mornings 😊
My first experience with 7-Eleven was in Elk Grove Village, IL in 1972. They are not as plentiful or popular in the Kansas City area as QuikTrip, but they still manage to draw a fair amount of business.
I started working on building 7-11’s as a second year carpentry apprentice in 1983. We travelled throughout BC and Alberta 🇨🇦, living out of motels, and pushing to meet tight construction deadlines and all requirements of the Southland Corporation. Big thanks to Doug, owner of PierMac Petroleum Installations Ltd of Kelowna for the years of employment.
Tommy C. Ridley Park, I remember it well. I lived in Glenolden and there was a few in our area. I believe most of them closed due to the competition from Wawa. My dad worked for them briefly in the late 60s. They made him take a lie detector test every month to make sure he was running the store correctly and wasn't stealing. Eventually he told them to f off and quit. Also I was in Thailand back in the mid 90's and there was a 7/11 there too, go figure.
@@richfl1969 that's entirely possible. I was in Nakhon Sawan ,north of Bangkok. I saw at least 2 7/11s, a KFC, a Mr Donut, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and if I remember correctly a Dunkin Donut. A bit of home in a far away land.
The snack place too go with the ones that you hung out with,and you get snacks for road trips and it awesome how memories can last until its no longer a memory.....circle of life 💯
I've been going to the same 7/11 for 48 year since I've been seven years old. I remember the penny candy isle and Slurpee with the cool collectible cups with cartoons, sport stars etc. Great memories.
I took a job as a clerk a 7/11, my first job right out of high school. I loved that job and got to know all of the customers. I loved working there and stayed working part-time for years. Great memories
I remember walking to 7-Eleven stores in the '60s as a kid in Texas... in heat of 100 degrees...just to get a Slurpee. The walk back home seemed a lot cooler....LOL!
Memories of spending my weekly allowance playing pinball, Space Invaders, Defender, Pac Man and others at our local 7-Eleven.
Robotron, Berzerk, Battlezone, Red Baron, Tempest, Galaxian, Galaga, Gauntlet, Frogger, Omega Race, Dig Dug, Q-Bert, Paperboy, 720°, Dragons Lair sound familiar?
Ours had a Crystal Castles, Food Fight & Gyruss - I was in heaven! =)
@@coloradostrong I now own some of those. In Houston, there's a place called The Game Preserve. One in Webster the other in The Woodlands. $15.00 to get in and all of the games you can play for free.
@@marka.graffakasnakebitenat3736 I worked on those and delivered them to game rooms for 20 years. The 7-11 game rooms were the worst for break-in. We finally made them pretty much tamper proof then they would rip the entire side of the machine off, or if they could not break into it they would piss in the coin slots. All in your "under privileged " communities.
I remember Xevious, Temple of Doom, and Return of the Jedi. Later I saw Castlevania. Many of our 7-11s had a good comic book selection.
In 1964 I used to walk to the local U-Totem store on the corner where I lived to get cigarettes for Dad. He gave me 25 cents and a note to give to the clerk. That's all a 9-year-old needed to buy cigarettes back then. America was still free then!
Oh, thank heaven!
I remember hey were 45 cents in the 70s and no note needed, at the local candy & stationary store.
Hah! Same here! In the 1950's and early '60's, my mom would give me 35 cents and send me out for cigarettes. Hard to believe those days ever existed! No seat belts in the cars, adults smoking wherever they chose! How did we ever survive?
Yep, we had a U-Totem down the street from us in 1964 as well.....17th st. Santa Ana California. I also would take a note from my mother to buy her a pack of cigarettes as well. If fact, things were so loose, that I could go into a bar with my dad as he boozed it up.......probably was not a good idea; but I was a kid, and it all seemed normal to me. Anyway, thanks for the great story.
@@louc4130 When my older brother and sisters were kids(in the 60's), they used to go down to the the bar where my dad would frequent after he got paid. My mom would send them there to collect his money so he wouldnt spend it on booze and babes.🤣 In the 70's, my dad would give me a dollar to go to the store and buy a pack of Winston cigarettes and they would sell them to me🤣, times have changed.
@@elwin38 I know what that's like too. We hardly had two nickles to rub together, so my mother did not like the idea that my dad would baby sit us at the bar while spending money that was in short supply. Thanks so much for a reply that many of us can relate to back then. Take care.
I’ve been a subscriber for about a year now. This by far was my favorite video yet!! Having grown up in the 70’s-‘80’s, I spent many hours at my local 7/11, which was a 7 min walk from my house, playing the video game Galaga with my Big Gulp sitting on top….and $2 in quarters lined up to play. Thanks for your great content!!
I remember collecting all the plastic slurpee cups with superheroes and other characters during the early 70’s. I still stop in for other items and sometimes the coffee. There are quite a few in my traveling area, so I go quite a bit
@@timthomson7532 You and me both my friend.
Used to go to the 7-11 in Chicago after I get off work driving pizzas in the early 80s and play Galaga a couple of times. That was my game, 1 game could last 1/2 hour easy getting into the 40s level. Oh and Tim, early 70s were baseball players.
@@boristheamerican2938 same here! I said $2 worth, but I probably never spent more than $1.
I rarely went to 7/11 in the 70's because they were too far from my neighborhood. When i worked my Summer job in 1985, there was a 7/11 down the street and when we got paid we feasted on them. I would buy 2 foot long chili dogs, large doritos, and a large coke slurpee 😋✌🏾
A man after my own heart!
Wow! A 2 foot long chili dog?😂
@@JustFunandGames When you're a teenager, it's amazing the things you can eat and how much you can eat.
@@elwin38 HAHAHA!
@@JustFunandGames That's what she said. 😅😄😝😂🤣😜😛
One of my happiest memories involved 7-11! In the late 60s, Mr. Rogers was just beginning and I watched him on PBS from the first day he aired in my city (he had been on in other areas already). A little less than a month later, mama had to run to the 7-11 to get a couple of things. We were instructed to stay in the car.
Since 7-11 had those big open fronts, it was easy for her to watch us. Our eyes were not focused on her, though. It was focused on a man who was bagging groceries - he was helping the store owner out. This was in the early evening and that store was busy! Yet, I cried out the window "Mr. Rogers!" . He looked up and smiled, then I cried out again and my 2 sisters joined me. We were so excited!!!!!!!!!! He blushed and was very humble and tried not to say anything. We were just so thrilled when he waved to us, gave us another smile, that we were jumping for joy. Then right there in the store, he began to sing his song "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" among the surprise of the customers (though they did not complain about it). Most did not know who he was, but we sure did! And that he would go out of the way to acknowledge us little girls, despite the fact he was shy about it, gave a lasting impression. I never found out why he was there and who he was visiting (I know he was continuing to plug his show in the area), but it was a precious memory that I hold dear here several decades later.
Many times we had gone to that 7-11 before that and after (although we girls kept watching just in case he would return to help out). Years later I looked on Google maps to find that 7-11 is still there and got more current pictures. The open front had been glassed and concrete in. Oh, I enjoyed that nice opening that made it unique.
I remember buying Duncan yoyo's there and remember in the summer my friends and I would buy slurpies, play pin ball and sit in front of the store with are bikes. What a beautiful time!
I remember collecting the slurpee cups. They were smaller and plastic with baseball players printed on them 1974 I think.
Ahahhh yes.....I remember them also. After around 3 or 4 times in the dishwasher, the cup turned all white because the ink on the cup will wash off.
I remember those!
Yes I do remember that now . They were plastic baseball hats
I remember the little plastic baseball cap cups - not much to drink from, but cool - late 70s.
LOLOL🤣....funny you would say that. When i would ride in my older brothers car, he would have some of these same cups lying around in the front and back seat of his car .It was his "work" car. He was a carpenter and had all kinds of work materials and junk in that car.
In the 70's I downed a lot of Slurpees with that straw/spoon. Yum!!!
Remember the cups with baseball players printed on them?
Slurpee = cataclysmic brain freeze
My favorite was the baseball trading cups from the early 70s
I had all the great vida,Roberto,willie,
And the HOF cups!
They were also included in the first "Cannonball Run" movie and sold souvenir cups with their Big Gulps.
I remember those cups
Bug gulps and slushies
Lol it wasn’t enough that the public could now get 32oz of soft drink in a cup per person. Because of the Big Gulp’s popularity, “demand increased for the SuperGulp and ExtremeGulp.” Even more than 32oz??? How much soda was that? Wow... It’s no wonder we’re enormous as a country, chugging half a gallon of soda.
@@noble604 you remind me of AM/PM version called "The Thirsty-two ouncer: it's so big its a good thing AM/PM is open 24 hours a day."
7-Eleven is also part of my earliest memories too.
I certainly remember the first 7/11 store where I lived in the 1960’s.
We rode our bicycles there.
It was the only store open on Sunday! Blasphemous indeed.
Also the prices were higher for things you could usually get elsewhere.
Thanks
My 7-11 was just a five minute bike ride from my house. I used to go in, get a Dr. Pepper Big Gulp and play Pac Man or read the comic books. I became friends with the owner, Rick, who would occasionally have me pick up the garbage in the parking lot in exchange for free Big Gulps or nachos. Sadly, like so many other places from my childhood, it's gone now. But I remember it every time I go into a Sev.
Thanks for the memory. It reminds me of how we used to know our grocery clerks and convenience store clerks. Now it's more like "just pay and go, next!"
The super big gulp😊❤️
In the Dallas area, 7-11 sometimes sells a Boston cream doughnut. It's amazingly delicious!
I remember back in the early 80s Jerry Lewis used to do commercials for 7/11. I did like getting slurpees during the summer when I was a kid. Now it seems as if their everywhere, and the store has a different feel to it. I guess it's because I was younger and everything seemed better 🤔
Jerry Lewis ran a promotion for his MDA charity called "Keep The Change" at 7-Eleven.
Right? When I was young those Coke Slurpees were a big deal.
Things have changed. Japan owns the company now. Wish we has the stuff offered in Tokyo! I hear their Starbucks, McDonald's, and Mr. Donuts are all more creative with their menus
I think you mean “they’re” ( they are). Have you been to Bangkok lately? There’s a 7 Eleven about every 50 meters. In 2004 there was a cartoon in the Bangkok Post with a map of Bangkok. Everything was a 7 Eleven and that was pretty much true. It’s magic traveling thousands of miles to an exotic foreign country and see 7 Eleven and McDonald’s everywhere and Burger King. I was in Milan in August 1999 and there were six McDonald’s right by the famous cathedral downtown. Yep travel to Italy to eat a Big Mac. I have eaten at McDonald’s in Canada, USA, England, Italy, Greece, Turkey, South Korea, Japan and Thailand. All the same and 7 Eleven wasn’t far away. This is globalism. Although I preferred Wendy’s in Greece.
Groan!
7-Eleven may have invented the brain-freeze (Slurpees since 1966).
Hahaha
Hello Boomer
I’m not sure… I remember getting Frozen Cokes at Woolworth’s at about the same time.
@@vinnygi okay vinny , where are you from? And 7 11 have been my most preferred store since I moved over here in Avon
@@amytaylor2138 I lived in Pittsburgh at the time.
So it took an Engineer to invent the SPOON/STRAW, AMAZING!
Now we have paper straws.
Julie Marchese-Temple, they were also good for snorting coke same with the stir sticks for your coffee. Not that I'd know .
Not just an engineer, but an engineer from MIT!
Well the shape of the Pringle chip was developed by an engineer using supercomputers.
He put his advanced education to good use. He saved the world from incompletely eaten Slurpees. Slurpee apocalypse avoided.
Another great video full of Memories!!!
Wow that brought back a flood of memories. 7-11 was where I would get my comic books as a kid, on the spinning metal racks. The penny candy at the bottom of the junk food aisle. Collecting the various plastic themed slurpee cups, quickly becoming the most common cup in my house, we saved them until they cracked. So many good memories. Always wanted a root beer slurpee, but I spoke to some Southland execs one day and they said it was the worse selling flavor of all time. Sad.
An odd slightly off topic memory is the rival chain of convenience stores, U-Totems, which came to mind with the totem themed 7-11's you mentioned.
I had the same experience as a kid! My first Experience with 7-Eleven was in Elk Grove Village Illinois in 1972. I used to go there at least once a week to check out the new comic books on the spinner rack.
My memories, too. Candy bracelets and necklaces, and penny candy. And then riding our bikes back home with our bag full of treats.
In 1966 or 1967, I had my first coca-cola Slurpee for .15 cents. I LOVED IT! At that time, 7-11 was the only store open and they closed at 11 o'clock.
My memory is the top 20 45 records on the pop charts sitting right on the check out counter. I bought many records there.
I don’t ever remember 45s at 7-11, although I remember Smitty’s selling them.
Music, narrator and these stories are real winners; this one is the Top 10%, TYVM.
I remember a “special” 7-11 that was right next to a cemetery and a park. My 1st boyfriend and I bought slushees and took them to the cemetery to talk. That’s where I experienced my first kiss. Ahhh memories. ❤️
Your first kiss was in a cemetery??? that's metal 🤘 lol
i love cemeteries, people always think theyre creepy but theyre not, theyre very peaceful and beautiful, every headstone has a story :)
@@girl4rm80s years ago cemeterys were a popular place to have a picnic from I gather. Not sure why but I read that somewhere.
I did the same . But yes it was a girl
@@jimconaty6218 in LA theres a famous cemetery called Hollywood Forever, very beautiful, and its a landmark for LA, they even have movie nights lol, as is shown in the movie Valentines Day :)
Growing up in Dallas TX in the 50's, 7-11 was certainly a popular place. They all had rollup doors that were always open except in the most inclement weather. I still remember riding my bike to the 7-11 on Oak Lawn near Wycliff for a soda pop out of one of the soda pop chests, always out front and full of ice so cold you thought your hand would freeze before you decided what flavor you wanted They had every brand of soda pop made but especially Dr Pepper which was made and bottled just a couple of mile away on Greenville and Mockingbird. Another item that I remember from 7-11 was the Hot Links. They were sealed in a plastic bag and sold hot out of a big white roaster...an open loaf of Mrs. Bairds bread (another Dallas icon) was close by for the customer to receive one slice of bread per link. The were the best hot links I've ever had.
Very good. I remember living in Phoenix in the 80s, 7 Eleven and Circle K fighting each other hard for the market, and locations on intersections. Which ever one you could access by making a right turn was the one you chose.
Hahahah that’s pretty interesting , I liked going to 7 11 ever since I loved to Avon , it’s actually starting to become my favorite store too , where are you from
@@amytaylor2138 Pacific NW
@@martinschulz9381 nice city, how’s everything going over there?
They’re both still here in Phoenix along with QT, AM-PM, Valero, and loads of independent convenience stores.
@@danieldaniels7571 Hey, thanks for the reply.
Thanks for sharing, and those that commented. I believe alot can be by comforted by Elvis's song, Memories. God bless y'all, and have a safe, healthy, and happy 4th of July.
When I was a pre-teen in 1970s Florida, I would walk to the 7/11 in St. Augustine Shores and buy an impressive stack of comics for two or three dollars, and my entertainment was set for the week. You can't even buy one new comic book for three bucks anymore.
Late 60's to mid 70's as kids we bought candy bars for 15 cents...also Florida. I see them in convenience stores now for $2.29. About the same for a soda.
In the mid 70's in St. Petersburg, Florida, my brother and I would ride our bikes to the 7-11 to buy baseball cards. I wish I still had those cards today.
I grew up in Davis shores in the 70s and 80s I remember that store !! class of 84 SAHS went in USAF in 86 retired 2007 live in st Pete now but planning to move back to st aug after the new year
I still have my x men 94 I got from the seven 11 spinner rack. As well as most of the marvel slurpy cups they had.
@@brianstevens3963 Very cool that you remember that store! Good luck with your move back to SA.
Also mentioned in ZZ Top song My Heads in Mississippi, and the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High "I was this close to working at 7/11"
Oh, thank heaven, Recollection Road did a feature on the 7-11 chain! Some of the history of the chain I didn't know. Thanks!
In my area, eastern Pennsylvania 7-11 was big in the '60s, 70s, '80s & 90s. There is much competition from regional chains as WaWa & Sheetz that 7-11 shut down some stores.
My last name is Reis.
Sheetz is soon much better. Love the MTO.
I'm in Bucks Co. just passed one in New Britain.
WaWa is killing 7-11 and Quick Check. Expanding all over New Jersey now.
@@eddie054 when I worked in the DC Metro area and live in MD, Wawa's were everywhere. And this was in the late 80's.
I have a Model of a 7-11 in HO Scale on my Layout.I purchased it at a Model Train Show.
I used to go to 7-Eleven to play the video games and pinball machines.
Me too they had this one pinball machine it was never changed . I mastered it in 1976 and got lots of " Special " and " Pops " and " Match " . What a fun summer ! 😀
My dad was elected President of the Texas Retail Grocer’s Association in 1955, and had meetings with 7/11 executives. After those meetings, he decided that he would expand his grocery business from super markets to convenience stores. When my parents sold the company to Circle K, they had 126 stores in South Texas. My sisters and I just finalized the final piece of real property we inherited related to the stores. We each chose different fields of study and professions. I do enjoy reflecting back on the business that gave us our work ethics, which were instilled by our parents at a very early age.
Hahahah that’s pretty interesting , I liked going to 7 11 ever since I loved to Avon , it’s actually starting to become my favorite store too , where are you from
One of my recent memories of this store was from the beginning of the pandemic when the one near my house closed down for a few weeks. I couldn’t believe it and had never seen one of these stores close. There used to be a joke about someone being as useless as a door lock on a 7 Eleven
Hahahah that’s pretty interesting , I liked going to 7 11 ever since I loved to Avon , it’s actually starting to become my favorite store too , where are you from
I remember as a kid how good a BIG GULP with lots of ice tasted back in the 70's- the employee would fill your drink behind the counter. Now , most stores are nasty, smelly, and don't even have good tasting soda anymore. Here in L.A. there's panhandlers and tweakers outside and rude employees that don't give a shit!
Door lock from 11:01 - 6:59 careful.
7-Eleven left the Charlotte, NC area around 1988. Around 2012, they returned and I was glad when they did come back!!!
I remember having a 45 records with the Slurpy song back in the 70's.
7 11 has slurpy rock cups!
I have that record still. It was called The Slurp and came out in 1967. The Baseball trading cups were from 1972 and 1973.
Hands down, this is the coolest channel on UA-cam.
My wife and I met over the hot dog machine at a store in Arlington. Texas in 1976. We got married in 1979. We have lots of good memories working together for them. We went to the 50th anniversary picnic that they had at Sandy Lake Park in Dallas in 1977. "Oh Thank Heaven for 50 Wonderful Years".
Oh man! I remember the 7-11 “baseball trading cups”! Such simple things made us kids happy.
Growing up as a kid, we would go to 7-11 at least once a week for a slurpee. When I got a bit older, I would walk to one down the street and just hang out for a bit while having my frozen drink. Oh Thank Heaven, for this video.
I was just 8-years old back in the summer of 1972 when my home town was devastated by Hurricane Agnus. Many homes and businesses were lost in the flood including my own home so while my family waited for our HUD trailer to arrive (the temporary housing available while things got cleaned up) we rented a tiny apartment on the third floor of an old, stately home high on the hill. Nearly every evening that summer, my older brother and I would walk down the hill into a city that was still mostly in the dark because of the flood, but for the bright lights shining from the 7-11 store, like a beacon in the night. We'd wander in and get our slupees (mine was Coke and his was Cherry) and stroll back up that tree-lined street back to our temporary home and, for a little while, in the midst of a world turned upside down, things would almost seem normal again...I've had a special fondness for 7-11 stores (and slurpees) ever since. Thank you for sharing its history with us.
I used to work at 7-Eleven in Brookline, MA in 2014.
Conan O'Brian is from Brookline
@@samanthab1923 Interesting...so is Dick Goodwin, a former speechwriter for JFK and the guy behind Robert Redford's movie "Twenty-One" about the TV quiz show scandals of the late 50s.
InvestorGuy66 Wow, married to Doris Kearns Goodwin. Cool
@@samanthab1923
I’m from Brookline, too.
Linda Terrell Cool. Sounds like a good place to grow up.
I grew up in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas Texas in the 60's. My grandmother's house was directly across the street from the very first 7-11 located at the corner of Twelfth and Edgefield. I would pick up empty soft drink bottles and take them to that 7-11 and sell them to buy candy and other snacks. The Store Managers name was Tom Sparks. I always respected Mr. Sparks. I'm not sure, but I think he may have been in the military, his uniform which was a white shirt, and dark slacks always looked sharp and he wore a flat top hair cut. I remember he always answered the phone "7-11, number one, Tom speaking".
7-11 disappeared from Houston when I was a kid. Now they’re back. I’ve been wearing my local 7-11 out at it has a Laredo Taco Company. Lot of good food at 7-11 for tha cheap.
They also disappeared in the Charleston, S.C area, but now I see a few of their signs back! Oh Thank Heavens!!..
@Making America Great Again - TRUMP'S DUMPED! you just commented #cringe
Those tacos are legitimately some of the best i've had. Everywhere else always messes something up, mainly the tortilla.
@@thatxonexguy5438 Strongly agree. Usually when served tortillas on the side of a meal I don’t eat them because “why bother?”. Their tortillas are excellent though; worth eating them by themselves.
I loved 7/11 as a kid. I loved the coke, cherry, raspberry, and later the orange slurpees. To me they had the best hot dogs and chili dogs around. They left the Memphis area between the late 80's-early 90's so the only time i get to go to 7/11 is when i go to the Dallas area when i visit relatives or in laws.
9️⃣0️⃣1️⃣ elwin98! #missingmyhometown 😊
@@carolclmcm1214 ✌🏾🙏🏾👊🏾always home(in your heart🧡)
it so happens a 7/11 is being built around the corner where i live in east nashville. (also memphis boy here. central high, '73)
@@yehudivenuti Yessir...Central high is still going strong. They closed down my high school...South Side, c/o 1986
LOL The last time I was in a 7/11 was many years ago. It was Thanksgiving Day, and my mother asked me to pick up a bag of ice on my way to her house. Only the 7/11 was open that day. That’s the only thing I bought.
Ha Gayyyy
Great story!
^_^ These videos are great, get some "History Lessons" as to how a product or store came about as one enjoys sweet memories of the past, thanx for your work. Your videos ALWAYS bring back fond memories of what seems like 100's of years ago to me, as if the past were but a dream.
Used to hit 7-11 all the time growing up in the 80s for some nachos, hot dogs, candy and super big gulp's.. It was just a staple of the community that we took for granted. I still hit them up, mostly for drinks and lottery tickets these days. Feels like a good thing that they've survived all these years through all the competition.
Some really interesting facts here, thank you for posting.
I remember the first 7-11 stores opening up here in Bakersfield in the early 1960s when I was in grade school. They were like mini grocery stores with food items like canned foods & soups and I even remember ironing boards and house hold cleaning items. And of course Slurpees were the best, as long as you liked them as Coke or cherry flavor, in the beginning.
I remember my cousins lived near South High and we'd walk to 7-Eleven on White Lane after playing baseball on the fields there at the school. Get a big bag of Doritos and a huge Slurpee! Good times.
@@CiscoDuck Yeah the first one I remember was up here on University Ave. In the early 70s, when I was in high school, the owner wanted me to work there for him but I declined, I could see my friends coming in wanting me to sell them beer. :-(
@@davidpayton8336 You went to North High? The 7~11 we walked to on White Lane was in the early 70's. It wasn't far from Jay's Coffee Shop. WE all used to go there for breakfast. ;)
@@CiscoDuck I went to Highland.
@@davidpayton8336 Oh, ok. I had cousins at Foothill, East High and South High. I was from southern CA and spent most of my summers up there. Lotsa great memories. :)
Long before the slurpee, as a tike in the late 50s I remember stores selling snow cones which was a cone shaped cup with crushed ice covered with a fruity syrup.
I remember in high school, after prom, a bunch of us went to 7-11. That must've been a sight for the employees, seeing the 7 of us march in wearing our prom dresses, loading up on Slurpees and snacks before going to the midnight movies. I remember another time in high school, I was sleeping over at a friend's house one weekend, and we suddenly got late night craving for Moon Pies. There was a 7-11 around the corner from her house, so we walked over there.
I want to visit the 7-11's in Japan. They look amazing.
I’m a new subscriber! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. As a child in the 1970s, my mom would take me to 7-11 after my softball games for a cola slurpee. We had to order it, not self serve, and only two flavors as mentioned. In the 1980s I took a job at 7/11. Thanks again for the video and pictures. It brought back great memories.
WE HAD A 7-ELEVEN IN MY HOME IN TROTWOOD OHIO BACK IN THE 70S. THEY CLOSED LONG AGO BUT I REMEMBER GETTING SLURPIES IN A PLASTIC BASEBALL CAP.
WHY ARE YOU YELLING?
LOUD NOISES!!!!
I remember those plastic baseball cap slurpees as a kid. I was trying to collect them all.
My first memory of a brain freeze was from a Slurpee at our neighborhood 7-Eleven in the early 70's in Alexandria, VA. Good memories!
Great memories keep them coming!
Awesome documentary for us in the south that LIVE on 7-11’s! Thank you! ❤️ It’s the BEST too get a slurpee for the kids after a day, on the hot Florida beach!!!✌🏽Sandy feet, tired kids- Oh thank Heaven for 7-11! Makes for a quiet trip home 👍🏽
Still on every other corner in California. They have really cheap pizza
Is the Pizza any good, I mean worth the Price(Yeah, it's cheap)?
Same in Michigan.
@@lastmanstanding2358 No. It's garbage.
I've seen it, but that's what I was afraid of... Thanx!
They started delivering the pizza since covid and seems to be doing good, (haven't tried it yet).
The first 7-11 I remember was built down the street from our house around 1969. That was just about the same time they got rid of the Blue Law of no stores open on Sunday and when most stores closed around 8-9:00pm. To have a convenience store open so early and stay open so late and do it 7 days a week was a real treat.
In 3 different cities where I lived in the 1970's , I was exactly a block and a half away from a 7-11 store. The pattern ended after I moved into 711 Post Street. It was a surprising coincidence.
LOL, riding our sleds (snowmobiles) to Innisfail, into town to have the self serve burgers in the winter. Literally went there for everything we could. Burgers were so good.
The 7eleven by my house has been there for as long as I can remember and is still going strong till this day, they have even opened a couple new ones recently near by, when we where younger my sister and I would walk to ours to load up on snacks, my sister loved the Slurpees, she would mix all the flavors lol
They’re all over Virginia Beach.I lived there 3 1/2 years and it’s one of things I miss since I moved on.Had one down the road from me.I loved their huge hot dogs and coffee.❤️💖
I remember the 7-11 we had in Gretna LA, when I was 10, they started to offer the Icee, with a polar bear logo. I don't know if anyone else remembers the days before they became Slurpee. Great video! Sure brings back memories of summer, and Sting Ray bikes!
The Icee branding continued to be marketed through Kmart deli snack bars. I remember having them with their hoagy sandos .
@@philbe3095 I remember the snack bars in all the big stores like Wal Mart, Target, etc. Now they seem to be McDonald's and Starbucks.
Were they the cups that were white, black, blue and red with a cartoon picture of a polar bear on them ?
If I'm not mistaken, Woolworths sold them too.......they were not pre made from the machines, you had to add the flavor syrup in the cup then add the Ice in the cup....am I correct ?
@@jpolar394 Yes, I remember the red and blue with the white Polar Bear, but we had them already mixed in the machine. Only 2 flavors, Cola and Wild Cherry. We used to mix them half and half.
Your photo of the kids on their stingrays in front of the store brought back memories. That was us! Sometimes it was skateboards instead of bikes. The old style boards that were rough and ready though you'd better not hit a pebble or you'll go flying. Ah good times.
4:06, I remember buying Slurpee's in 1965 when I was 5 years old!
I was traveling for work for many decades & I would get excited when I found a 7 11 as I new they would have everything I could need!
You should see how the first store locations in Dallas, Texas looks today. People don't stop for red lights because they will get robbed!
The first 7-11 in our neighborhood in Bakersfield has been Lam's Chinese food since 1980.
Yeah oak cliff. Uggh.
@@michaellong3175 right lol they be called stop and robs in oak cliff 😁
@@sheerwillsurvival2064 In Oak Cliff? C'mon, man, not the home of LHO
@@buxxbannerspov30 😂
Went to high school with a guy I used talk to, he used to tell me he wanted a 7-11 store someday. We all would gather at night at 7-11 parking lot and check out the girls this was in the early 70's. We would laugh at him because he wanted a part time job at 7-11. In 1989 he owned 9 7-11 franchises, he is now MILLIONAIRE...His son followed his dad's footsteps he owns 6 7-11's in Hawaii...
I bought my first pack of cigarettes from a Seven Eleven. A pack of Newports for fifty-five cents. I was twelve years old. No questions asked!
Menthol was the way to go back then! Happily I quit smoking decades ago!
Newport was the first pack of smokes I bought as well, for 42-cents. I bought it at the mom and pop store down the street though. There wasn't a 7-11 in my neighborhood at that time. I got off the menthols after about a year but unfortunately, that first pack led to too many more over the years. Been off them for almost three-years now but the damage has been done.
I do remember my friends saying if smokes ever got to a buck a pack they would quit. Of course, they said the same thing about gas, that they would walk rather than pay a buck a gallon. Well, almost all of them were they were puffing away on their buck a pack smokes as they drove in their gas guzzlers a short time later. The old days.
@@adamandrews8534 Yeah, me too.
OMG - I had forgotten about the TV tube testing/vending stations! It was the place to go when it looked like a tube had gone bad. And grabbing the bikes and riding to 7-11 for an Icee on a summer afternoon was a treat!
We used to call our 7-11, “Speedy-Mart” right off Bascom Ave. in San Jose, by Del Mar High!
I used to love when they had video games at 7/11 back in the late 80's and 90's and magazines.
Ive only lived near a 7 11 for 6 months of my life.
I went 3 to 5 times a week.
My favorite memory of 7-11 was in the late 70's-early 80-s was going there to play pinball/Classic video games, I could ride my bike there, arcades were too far away. Also getting a Slurpee with my Dad before Monday night football games during the same period. Good times.
This was another enjoyable video. Come on 70K subscribers! I've told all of my friends and family for sure.
I have so many great memories of 7-11. On Sundays we use to play baseball on Lincoln Road in Oak Park Mi. After the game we all went to 7-11 on Lincoln and Greenfield in Oak Park Mi. Everyone in the neighborhood would go there to get a large slurpee. The year 1975 and 1976. Later came the BIG GULP. One year there scratch off with your slurpee and I won a free bicycle. I believe 7-11 is still there in oak park Mi a popular stop for the neighborhood.
This was back in the late 80s, but I remember them having these ground sausage breakfast things. They were about double the diameter of a hotdog, and about the same length, and were on hotdog potato rolls in those thin flip top thin cardboard hot dog boxes. I used to get three of them on my way to work every morning and put a pretty healthy dose of jalapeño nacho cheese sauce on them, grab a 44oz Super Big Gulp Coke and call it breakfast.
I bet today you're fat and diabetic
I worked at 7- eleven from 1974-1993....saw many changes from hand dipped ice cream to serving slices of fresh pizza and meatball subs! I saw the neighborhood grow and change over 20 years..a wonderful and memorable part of my life
A couple of elderly neighbors of mine, don't drive and wont the take bus. They get their entire grocery and food from 7/11. I offer to give them a ride to the grocery store and they Just say "No thank you, we shop at the 7/11"
Theyre spending too much.
expensive,good to buy some snacks but regular groceries whoa!!
@@t-squared6406
The 7/11 in this area is pretty good sized. They have a good amount of cooked foods as well. Its really like no other 7/11 I have ever seen.
@@truth4004
Yes, but they are not spending money on car, gas insurance, parking expenses.
I never get tired of this channel! GREAT soothing music and awesome content, it's amazing how much I learn with each installment. Thank you for your information and entertainment, you don't know how much I appreciate you.
I love this too
Hmmm, buttered kaiser roll, in New York, miss them since I no longer live there
There was a 7-11 just a short walk from our house in Lakewood, Colorado. Next door was Mr. Duane Counce's auto repair and gas, who took care of Mom and Dad's cars. He changed out our tires for snow tires in September, stored the regular tires, then changed them back in the Spring. The 7-11, at the time, was completely open in the front, with accordion doors that slid to the right and left at 7 AM and closed up at 11 PM. Dad bought stacks of comics for us kids (and himself, although he wouldn't admit it) almost every weekend. And we loved the Icees. Collected the bears from the cups.🥰🥰🥰
It’s now better oversea now, hello Japan!
It's in competition with Japanese convenience chain Lawson.
You don't have to spend on a US Passport and a visa document.
Today's Japanese corporate owners of 7-11 have opened a few stores on HI on the Japanese mold rather than the American. You can get there (first one was in Honolulu, Oahu) many of the Japanese-style prepared foods seen on many food-related YT creator accounts (I can recommend several of Mikey Chen's accounts or Emmy Cho's, but there are many others to Google on).
You can sustain on more of those Asian foods far better than you can the American Gas Shop fare...
Taiwan, also.
We meet again. I remember you because our names are similar. My last name is Reis.
Yup.
Waaaaaay better selection of food. Hot or packaged. Hawaii ones too have a better selection of foods.
Very cool, and informative. I remember as a kid, the 7-11 prominence. My cousin Ricky, who lived in Los Gatos, had a bunch of "Hot to Go" round red stickers. Later in my teen years I worked at a couple different 7-11 stores in South San Fran, and each featured a business owner who worked this biz oppty while serving a popular need and market. 24 hours, 365 days, variety of stuff. I remember stocking the refrigerated stuff, wearing the store "jacket" due to temperature in there, hehe. Thank you Carol, Richard, and Hugh Babilla for the opportunity to learn things that serve me to this day.
I'll drive past 10 7 ELEVEN stores to go to 1 QuikTrip!
Couldn't agree more. 7 Eleven didn't stay up with the times. QuikTrip is the best convenience store ever.
Agreed. But 7-Eleven is still much much larger. QT is regional.
I’m so glad a QT opened a block and a half from my apartment
I just love those old pictures.A lot of research goes into these videos and it shows.Keep up the good work.
We still have a few in the Sticks in South Jersey, Nice...
Did they get taken over by Wawa's and Quick Check's ?
Grew up with one near by in Matawan NJ. Think it's still there.
J Polar Remember moving to Metuchen NJ & my husband used the Quik Chek
@@jpolar394 Kind of... I remember a lot more 7-11's around before Y2K... Now we got Royal Farms Popping up in S.J.
@@samanthab1923 ....On the corner of New Durham road and Talmadge ?
Man that area changed so much in the last 20 years. Almost no more industrial work there no more. A friend of mine, his brother was the plant manager of I think the place was called Continental Container. It was right next door to the Foodtown warehouse.
When I was little, my dad and I would go on our Saturday morning drives in his Porsche, cranking up the Eagles, the Doors, all the classic music and we would drive to a 7-11 for him to get a cup of coffee and me my morning candy. I remember him telling me, “Don’t tell your mother that I allow you to have candy in the morning, or else she will kill me!” 😂 My dad still has a Porsche, and I wish I can rewind time and redo those Saturday mornings 😊
My first experience with 7-Eleven was in Elk Grove Village, IL in 1972. They are not as plentiful or popular in the Kansas City area as QuikTrip, but they still manage to draw a fair amount of business.
Had a 7 11 close to my High School great memories hanging out with my friends and grabbing a Big Gulp after school
I have been in Bangkkok Thailand and there are so many Seven Eleven stores, some times two or three on a city block.
There are more in Thailand than the US. Also more in SKorea and Japan(the most).
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California in the 60’s. Slurpee’s are one of my favorite memory’s as a kid.
There's a 7-Eleven in Tempe AZ with the old signage on a pole. We call that the "creeper" 7-Eleven. lol
Do you mean the one on McClintock near Don Carlos?
@@danieldaniels7571 that is the one.
I started working on building 7-11’s as a second year carpentry apprentice in 1983. We travelled throughout BC and Alberta 🇨🇦, living out of motels, and pushing to meet tight construction deadlines and all requirements of the Southland Corporation. Big thanks to Doug, owner of PierMac Petroleum Installations Ltd of Kelowna for the years of employment.
Tommy C. Ridley Park, I remember it well. I lived in Glenolden and there was a few in our area. I believe most of them closed due to the competition from Wawa. My dad worked for them briefly in the late 60s. They made him take a lie detector test every month to make sure he was running the store correctly and wasn't stealing. Eventually he told them to f off and quit. Also I was in Thailand back in the mid 90's and there was a 7/11 there too, go figure.
It seems like there's a 7-11 on every block in the larger cities in Thailand.
@@richfl1969 that's entirely possible. I was in Nakhon Sawan ,north of Bangkok. I saw at least 2 7/11s, a KFC, a Mr Donut, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and if I remember correctly a Dunkin Donut. A bit of home in a far away land.
The snack place too go with the ones that you hung out with,and you get snacks for road trips and it awesome how memories can last until its no longer a memory.....circle of life 💯
i loved 7-11 I would always buy a either a coke or rootbeer slurpee
I've been going to the same 7/11 for 48 year since I've been seven years old. I remember the penny candy isle and Slurpee with the cool collectible cups with cartoons, sport stars etc. Great memories.