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Are 7-11Freak Magnets?

batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
edited March 2013 in Strut Central
I didnt grow up w/ a 7-11 in my hood. Just got one in like the last 3 years.

There's a new one near my job in Long Island City.

In both stores, the folks that go there are some real freaks.

Folks that I dont see at the Bodega or the "Arab" joint.

Why is that shit? Has that always been the case?

The hot food is terrible looking.
Dudes campin in the soda refill area.
Fat Policewoman playin lotto.
Alantra and her kid gettin' plastic hot wings.
Goofy Cashiers.
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  Comments

  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    short answer: yes

    thing is, there's too much accountability at a neighborhood bodega. The true freaks can't let it all hang out with Hector and Lourdes and them.

    7-11 is impersonal, absolutely foreign to NYC, and I do not think they even hire locally. All them dudes are imported from shookistan

    you should see the one that opened on Bowery. :eyeball: :eyeball:
  • St. CorneliusSt. Cornelius 39 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    thing is, there's too much accountability at a neighborhood bodega. The true freaks can't let it all hang out with Hector and Lourdes and them.

    Hector and Lourdes have probably had their bodega in the family for generations; some kid working at 7-11 doesn't have any personal investment in things, so that's why shit is wild at the sevvy.

    And while they may look awful, and very bad for you... those little chicken chipotle mini-tacos are okay.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    The three I frequent (less than 10 times in the past three years type of frequent) used to be a lot stranger and fit your description. But they seem a lot more sane and a lot less unsavoury since new-to-the-country people started running them.

    I think it has something to do with it being a combination of a last-resort consumer choice (open late) and that's it's like a faceless fast food chain. Harder to be a drunk ass and/or act out of sorts with a guy dressed like my Dad who I see regularly than a guy in a green polyester jumper who doesn't even make eye contact with me cause he's trying to make sure no one is pulling some shit by the gas pumps and/or magazine rack.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    St. Cornelius said:
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    thing is, there's too much accountability at a neighborhood bodega. The true freaks can't let it all hang out with Hector and Lourdes and them.

    Hector and Lourdes have probably had their bodega in the family for generations; some kid working at 7-11 doesn't have any personal investment in things, so that's why shit is wild at the sevvy.

    right, exactly

    there was a great article on the taking of NYC by 7/11, NYMag I think? I think the boy boy W. Staley wrote it actually. Those dudes have it down to a science as far as what sells, and where, and how quickly/frequently. Their franchising operation is totally sick. It's just sad that all that ingenuity is going to spreading 7/11s throughout the tri-state, when the combo of stale cookies, Utz chips, cold cut heros, malta, tropical fantasy and bustelo coffee was something really unique and awesome to me when I first moved here in '95.
  • ppadilhappadilha 2,236 Posts
    I would imagine they also provide a home to the freaks who moved in from out of town. People from kentuckystan who find themselves in the big city but don't feel comfortable in a place that sells goya products and 22s of Presidente, and who crave the occasional slushee and a microwave burrito.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    short answer: yes

    thing is, there's too much accountability at a neighborhood bodega. The true freaks can't let it all hang out with Hector and Lourdes and them.

    7-11 is impersonal, absolutely foreign to NYC, and I do not think they even hire locally. All them dudes are imported from shookistan

    you should see the one that opened on Bowery. :eyeball: :eyeball:

    hahahaha...its like that?

    I just dont get it. Its like some real Mos Eisley Star Wars Cantina shit.

    Yeah I've seen freaks in Burger King and McDonalds but its kinda countered by kids, families, and working folks on some genuine hungry shit.

    It just a weird ass phenomenon.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    ppadilha said:
    I would imagine they also provide a home to the freaks who moved in from out of town. People from kentuckystan who find themselves in the big city but don't feel comfortable in a place that sells goya products and 22s of Presidente, and who crave the occasional slushee and a microwave burrito.

    Nah....Im seeing the Local Black Exp freaks up in there at both spots.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    St. Cornelius said:
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    thing is, there's too much accountability at a neighborhood bodega. The true freaks can't let it all hang out with Hector and Lourdes and them.

    Hector and Lourdes have probably had their bodega in the family for generations; some kid working at 7-11 doesn't have any personal investment in things, so that's why shit is wild at the sevvy.

    And the neighbourhood considers them part of the community, it's familiar.
    If you just got off the freeway and don't really know the neighbourhood you're drving through, more likely you'll pop into a recognizable chain like 7-11- wider net, more freaks.
  • CousinLarryCousinLarry 4,618 Posts
    The one in my neighborhood is jumping at all hours. The gas pumps never work right. Three to four old heads are usually camped out on milk crates near the front door, not panhandling or causing trouble just hanging out. The people that work there are all from the neighborhood and will remember you if you come in more than once. Going to pick up a beer or candy bar before they pick the numbers can be a bitch though. If I really need something quick and don't want to hassle with the hustle over at 7-11, I just go to Walgreen's down the road.
  • ppadilhappadilha 2,236 Posts
    batmon said:
    ppadilha said:
    I would imagine they also provide a home to the freaks who moved in from out of town. People from kentuckystan who find themselves in the big city but don't feel comfortable in a place that sells goya products and 22s of Presidente, and who crave the occasional slushee and a microwave burrito.

    Nah....Im seeing the Local Black Exp freaks up in there at both spots.

    it's not like the Popeye's or Long John Silver, where people make pilgrimages to just to get a taste of home? Maybe that happens but those people don't linger around by the soda fountain
  • mrmatthewmrmatthew 1,575 Posts
    Question for you all.
    Do you smoke cigarettes?
    I was trying to remember the last time i was in a 7-11 and i dont think ive been in one sice i quit smoking over a year ago.
    Smokers have a MUCH different relationship to the bodgea/convenience store than non-smokers.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    the only freakshow I see like 7/11 around my way is the Pathmark. That shit is gullitude personified.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    the only freakshow I see like 7/11 around my way is the Pathmark. That shit is gullitude personified.

    Forgetabouit, but that crossroads of Lex/125 has always been a Thriller video. Especially w/ the Metro-North a block over.
  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,899 Posts
    I believe 7-11 is Japanese owned. It's tough to not go in one when traveling around many spots in Asia. Actually, I haven't been in one since my last time in Asia (Which I probably hit up 20-30 in 4 countries).

    But I stay away at home. They just opened a pretty damn big one near Dundas Sq. here in Toronto. Rents gotta be pretty high there. That's a lot of Slurpee's too sell to cover it.

    Last time I was in one here a dude had a big python with him and put it on the floor when he was paying for his hot dog.
  • bassiebassie 11,710 Posts
    We were on a three-week roadtrip many years ago and in Memphis. We were staying for a couple of days and wanted something halfway fresh to eat so we went into a grocery store. I have no idea what the place was called - it was right by an Am Vet and if memory serves, the frozen foods section was right by the entrance. We had gone in to get some water and fruit and we walked into a chaos I have yet to witness again in a retail setting. It was like walking onto a televsion show set which happened to double up as a schoolyard. Hair rollers, short shorts, vests with no shirt underneath, half-opened food sitting around - some of which was being used as something to kick around between a couple of kids, a lot of people yelling for eachother to "Come over here!" "...Now!", looks and styles that up to then, I had only seen in magazines from 30 years ago. All in a really really brightly lit setting. We got the water, didn't bother with the fruit and booked it out of there.
  • dj_cityboydj_cityboy 1,460 Posts
    we dont have any on the East Coast of Canada...but the ones i have been too, had some weird sketchy people working for sure...i delieve we had one or two here back in the day (late 70's early 80's) i was born in 74 so i vaguely remember there being one here, not sure why they havent branched out here yet...

    based on the sounds of it, doesnt sound like um missing much though..
  • Hotsauce84Hotsauce84 8,450 Posts
    Here you go, Batman:

    http://www.sneakerfreaker.com/museum/model/NEW-BALANCE-Running-574-Convenience-Store-Pack---7-11/1343
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    batmon said:
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    the only freakshow I see like 7/11 around my way is the Pathmark. That shit is gullitude personified.

    Forgetabouit, but that crossroads of Lex/125 has always been a Thriller video. Especially w/ the Metro-North a block over.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    batmon said:
    Jonny_Paycheck said:
    the only freakshow I see like 7/11 around my way is the Pathmark. That shit is gullitude personified.

    Forgetabouit, but that crossroads of Lex/125 has always been a Thriller video. Especially w/ the Metro-North a block over.


    Its funny cause i thought the Pathmark and gentrification would "clean out" that area, and yes its better than the 80's but its still funky.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    no gentrification happening east of Madison, Park is the absolute border

    Lex is nasty all the way down to 106th or so

    there was a Wire-style takedown of a big drug ring in the apartments right up from the station there, 126th-128th between Park and Lex several years ago, but the dope still has these fools sideways like

  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,779 Posts
    I haven't been in one since the 90s but the one near me is sad looking... Actually I'm kind of surprised it's still open with Wawa doing the full takeover in Eastern PA.

    Wawa = tweaker's paradise
  • rootlesscosmorootlesscosmo 12,848 Posts
    we have a couple in SF. I used to get Slurpees around the corner from my sunday school. but SF has the Arab corner store thing going on which renders sevvys pretty unnecesary.

    I really only hit sevvys while overseas: Malaysia, Mexico...love popping in for some home cooking while on the road.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    when I was in the Bay last month I was coming from spinning at this spot in Oakland 1st Fridays, and I needed some papers to roll something. Hit the Smokehouse for a burger and then figured I'd cruise down to the one on Telegraph. It was closed. What? Isn't that the whole point, to be open? So I drove all the way to the one on Solano, since I was staying nearby, and was able to cop a stale pack of zig zags. There was a couple getting it on in a car in the parking lot. The agent told me that they had to close the Telegraph location because it got TOO crayfay on the late night.

    This cool story has been brought to you by bro.
  • rootlesscosmorootlesscosmo 12,848 Posts
    the Telegraph location could get a little weird at night; I def saw that; didn't know it closed.

    I've seen the Smokehouse get kinda wilde after hrs as well.
  • Jonny_PaycheckJonny_Paycheck 17,825 Posts
    nah I mean they close it at 1, or something

    Smokehouse is always wild after a certain hour
  • Controller_7Controller_7 4,052 Posts
    rootlesscosmo said:
    the Telegraph location could get a little weird at night; I def saw that; didn't know it closed.

    I've seen the Smokehouse get kinda wilde after hrs as well.

    This was my spot in college. Whenever finals rolled around, I'd "get on my skateboard and do a muthafuckin drive by." a caffeine drive by. I'd get a coffee and a 2 liter of soda and stay up all night studying. Then I'd go take my finals and sit there all jittery and sweaty.
  • rootlesscosmorootlesscosmo 12,848 Posts
    I'm long overdue for a Smokehouse run...those folks somehow just absolutely body the whole simple burger-and-fries thing...I don't know how they do it....
  • dukeofdelridgedukeofdelridge urgent.monkey.mice 2,453 Posts
    7-eleven (I've always loved the inconsistency in the name) was huge in my life. I don't go into them anymore, but I feel more comfortable when they're close--like just knowing there are clean mountain streams with wild animals is good enough for most folks, without ever going hiking...I always need to know where the nearest one is.

    Growing up in rural-adjacent suburbia, they were the destinations and pit stops for our BMX and skateboard adventures. Video games, pinball tables, candy, Slurpees. We'd actually hang out in them!

    As I got older they became the meeting spots for keg party caravans, fights, teenage wasteland shit.

    Now I live in the city and all 7-elevens I see fit Batmon's description. Psycho. Love em. There's one right over there. Always someone pouring oil in their Mistubishi 3000GT in the parking lot, lurking by the Redbox kiosk, sitting down by the stairs out by the dumpster. Gotta smoke bro?

    Love them!

    Most recent visit was on Lincoln in Venice, a couple months ago. Did not disappoint.

    So, yes: freak magnets.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    See the thing is that in NYC we didnt have Convenient Stores in the 60s/70s/80's to get that "Funky Community" culture where the undesirables and the regular can mix.

    So now u throw this sterilized franchise shit in the hood and you get many of the mutants flocking to the "bright lights/familair brands" and shit.

    A friend of mine had one in her hood near Bensonhurst. Her spot was clean and regular, and it was right in the mix of all the other local shops.....and no freaks whenever I ran thru.

    Shit is like the NY Library.
  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    dukeofdelridge said:
    7-eleven (I've always loved the inconsistency in the name) was huge in my life. I don't go into them anymore, but I feel more comfortable when they're close--like just knowing there are clean mountain streams with wild animals is good enough for most folks, without ever going hiking...I always need to know where the nearest one is.

    I'm the same way.. 7-11 played a big role in my life, but now i'm trying to kick my sugar addiction before I give myself full blown Adult Onset Diabetes.

    A Slurpee represents enjoying the summertime here in Las Vegas.

    - Damo
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