Oh Thank Heaven for 7-Eleven - Life in America

[Music] 7 11 started back in 1927 and was the first ever convenience store among many other firsts that this company brought to america uncle johnny jefferson green was an employee of the southland ice company in dallas texas when he came up with the idea to start selling everyday staples from the dock of the ice house he created a makeshift storefront to sell milk eggs and bread on evenings and weekends when grocery stores were closed the ice house sold ice blocks for food preservation to households without electric refrigerators this made it perfect because green could keep the food items he was selling cold this endeavor was immediately successful local residents liked the convenience of avoiding the crowds of a regular grocery store especially when they only had to pick up a few items this concept soon expanded to all of southland ice company's eye stocks thanks to the founder joe thompson they then started opening little convenience stores all over texas [Music] shortly after someone at the company returned from a trip to alaska with a totem pole and they set it out front of one of the busiest locations and it became somewhat iconic over the years so much so that these stores became known as totems the company officially adopted the name and decorated their location with an inuit inspired theme to match they also added gas pumps and created the concept of gas and go having survived the great depression the company underwent a massive rebranding in 1946 expanding their hours of operation from 7 in the morning to 11 at night the company began to refer to these stores as 7-elevens 7-eleven ran the first television advertisement for a convenience store in 1949. the ad featured their curbside grocery delivery service and an animated rooster and owl reminded customers that the store was open early and closed late [Music] in the 1950s the one-stop shopping locations offered everything consumers needed including gas expansion was well underway and new stores opened in florida maryland virginia and pennsylvania in 1963 711 had opened 1 000 stores growth was rapid and this was due mostly because more and more people owned cars the need for convenience also increased no one thought there would be a demand for a store that was open 24 7 in fact it was unheard of until one night in austin texas in 1963 the local 7-eleven had seen such a rush of students following a university of texas football game that they were forced to stay open until dawn the next day sensing a trend the store continued to stay open all night on the weekends this soon turned into staying open 24 7 every day and soon more and more locations adopted the new schedule as well 7-eleven became the first convenience store to be open 24 hours a day 1965 brought the launch of the famous slurpee this frozen beverage was first invented by the owner of a dairy queen and called an icy when the drink concept was licensed to 7-eleven the company's marketing department named it a slurpee they cleverly came up with a name after listening to the sound it made while being sipped through a straw the best-selling flavors are coca-cola and wild cherry served at a chilly 28 degrees more than 40 percent of them are sold during the summer months you can even grab a free slurpee on july 11th which is 7 11 day with slurpees now on the market came the challenge of drinking them with just a regular straw fortunately in 1968 mit mechanical engineering grad arthur ikenian invented the spoon straw this is a straw with a little spoon on the end so you can sip and spoon with just one utensil 7-eleven made this invention very popular 7-eleven was also the first to offer a cup of coffee to go recognizing the need for a quick cup of coffee on the way to work 7-eleven decided that this was going to be a hit and became the pioneer in offering coffee on the go coffee is actually their number one selling item and they sell 1.1 million cups of coffee per day the list of firsts continues they were also the first to offer the self-serve soda fountain and offered the big gulp drink to its customers these huge 32 ounce cups hit stores in 1976 allowing customers to quench their thirst with a giant serving of whatever soft drink they chose the big gulp was such a hit that consumers asked for a container that would fit into their car's cup holders after the big gulp proved highly popular the company added even larger sizes like the super gulp and extreme gulp 7-eleven has appeared in a series of sitcoms cartoons songs and even video games throughout the years it appeared in the animated sitcom futurama where 7-eleven is known as 7 to the power of 11. it has also made appearances in the video game grand theft auto as a chain of convenience stores and in a beyonce song released in 2014 there are plenty of dining options to choose from at 7-eleven for instance the giant hot dogs are an all-time favorite there's also mini tacos cheeseburgers chicken sandwiches fully loaded nachos and their famous taquitos they even sell sushi and have an impressive snack aisle whatever you want you can probably find at 7-eleven one of the most memorable ad slogans ever created oh thank heaven for 7-eleven has been around for more than 50 years the catchy slogan positions 7-eleven as the place for everything you need whether you're low on gas looking for a late night snack or just craving a slurpee the glowing 7-eleven logo is a beacon of hope the massive convenience store chain stocks road trip essentials ridiculously large sodas and beyond and keeps its doors open to customers all day and night do you have any 7-eleven memories of your own let me know in the comments you

Channel: Recollection Road

Views: 182,301

Keywords: Recollection Road, nostalgia, memories, photos, history, closed, forgotten, business, past, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, memory, yesteryear, golden age, photo album, oldies, fifties, sixties, abandoned, 20th century, 7-Eleven, slurpee, big gulp, gas station, service station, convenience store, ice house, coffee, gas n go

Id: j0wYLxzI-jw

Length: 8min 1sec (481 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 01 2021