7-Eleven Is Taking Over Manhattan

By JULIE STRICKLAND, THE REAL DEAL

Suburban convenience store 7-Eleven is pushing hard to gain acceptance in Manhattan as the company aggressively expands.

New Yorkers have been less than welcoming to the chain, which began elbowing its way into Manhattan in 2011. Since then the number of locations has quadrupled in Gotham, from eight to 37 stores. Five new outposts have opened in the past six months alone.

To ease the environment surrounding its rapidly expanding presence, 7-Eleven launched an innovation group two years ago that tests new digital offerings for customers, from Amazon Lockers to automated key-making kiosks. (An Amazon locker is an electronically operated box for deliveries from Amazon.com for customers who don’t have a doorman or other means of package storage).

“When a retailer comes to New York City, you have to win over the city and earn your spot — you can’t just come in with your normal concept,” Mike Duda, chief executive of brand creative agency Johannes Leonardo, told Crain’s. “Utilities like the Amazon Locker and other things are something smart and extra that you can’t get somewhere else.”

The convenience-store chain is also working to remake its fast-food image by introducing healthy food options, such as fresh salads, and is trying out craft beer sales. Aesthetic changes are also a strategy, such as a coated awning added to an Avenue A outpost to soften the blaze of florescent lights.

Still, the store has plenty of detractors. Lower East Side blog No7Eleven has staged rallies and drummed up boycotts, and landmarked buildings are sometimes particularly resistant to renting.

“The look and feel of it does very little to warm the ambience of a building,” Andrew Moger, chief executive of real estate and construction management firm BCD, told Crain’s. “And the operating hours create more opportunities for noise and trash—not necessarily an amenity to tenants.” [Crain's]

More from The Real Deal:

• Solitary condo left unsold at Elad’s Franklin Place
• Dixon’s Lefferts brownstone buy sets record for nabe
• Real estate fuels huge jump in Blackstone’s profit

This post originally appeared at The Real Deal. Copyright 2014.

Read more: http://therealdeal.com/blog/2014/01/27/in-nyc-push-7-eleven-courts-manhattanites-with-new-amenities/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+trdnews+%28The+Real+Deal+-+New+York+Real+Estate+News%29#ixzz2ruMPOwL0

7-Eleven’s Free Slurpee Day: This Year With Bigger Slurpees!

It’s July 11, or 7/11, the day each year that a certain convenience store chain celebrates as 7-Eleven Day. That’s the official name anyway. Most customers know July 11 simply as Free Slurpee Day.

In what’s become an annual event, 7-Eleven stores are giving away one free Slurpee per customer on July 11. Besides generating goodwill among customers, the event has proved curiously successful in boosting sales of Slurpees on the day of the giveaway.

It’s understandable that sales of other items spike on Free Slurpee Day, what with many customers picking up a Slim Jim or bag of chips to go with their free Slurpee. The increase in Slurpee sales on the day they’re handed out for free may come as more of a surprise. But apparently what happens is that customers often wind up wanting a bit more Slurpee than what’s provided in the free sample size, so they purchase a larger slushy drink after getting a complimentary taste.

(MORE: 5 Ways Companies Win By Giving Stuff Away)

While 7-Eleven is understandably sticking with 7/11 as its national giveaway day, the chain is getting rid of one part of its number-based marketing—and consumers win out as a result. Instead of going with a 7.11-ounce free Slurpee as it has in the past, this year 7-Eleven is simply giving out Slurpees in its usual Small size: 12 ounces.

Why the change? “Moms asked us for cups with lids,” Laura Gordon, vice president of marketing and brand innovation for 7-Eleven, told USA Today. The specially created 7.11-ounce cups don’t have lids, but the 12-ouncers do. “That means less mess in the car.”

It also means 7-Eleven doesn’t have to pay to produce special lids (or special sized cups) for the Slurpee giveaway, while simultaneously making customers happier by doling out a few more ounces of complimentary icy refreshment.

(MORE: Transgender Marketing: 12 Campaigns That Defy Sexual Stereotyping)

7-Eleven expects to give away roughly 7 million Slurpees on Thursday, July 11, 2013, up from around 4.5 million free Slurpees in 2011. Slurpee sales, meanwhile, may rise as much as 40% on Free Slurpee Day. Sales of hot dogs, beef jerky, and other snacks that pair well with icy drinks will surely soar as well.

Read more: http://business.time.com/2013/07/11/7-elevens-free-slurpee-day-this-year-with-bigger-slurpees/#ixzz2YkpRc3Mh