7-Eleven at Holleman and 2818

7-Eleven has returned to the area, but at what cost? (Picture by author, 7/21)  It's July 11th, or "7-11". So why not do a 7-Eleven focused post today? Two years ago (before, you know...) I remember getting a blueberry lemonade Slurpee at a Stripes in Waco (which now may or may not be a 7-Eleven for reals) that participated in "7-11 day" during my lunch break, though unfortunately 7-Eleven won't be doing the promotion this year, either.

The Exxon that holds this particular 7-Eleven has a bit of a history. 2111 Holleman Drive West was built in 2014 with two smaller vacant suites and shares a back entrance with Lakeridge Townhomes, built as part of a land swap. Unfortunately, the Exxon with its two smaller vacant suites (undeveloped to this day) and a convenience store called "A&M Xpress" never actually opened. In the fall of 2014, the interior was largely finished out and the sign fully lit up (with no actual gas prices) and eventually the gas station was sold. It wasn't until summer of 2015 when new owner Stripes finished construction, added a Laredo Taco Company inside, and hung the new sign in late July 2015 before opening less than a month later (I was the first customer there at soft opening, little known fact). About a year later, however, Stripes' parent Sunoco (the Exxon presumably carried over from a pre-existing condition, most of the new-build Stripes built around this time were all Sunoco stations) bought the Rattlers' chain, meaning it and the competing Shell across the street had common ownership.

Eventually, Sunoco sold its convenience store holdings to 7-Eleven. While the Rattlers' never converted to 7-Eleven, getting closed in fall 2020, the store became a 7-Eleven on March 3, 2021, while the main Exxon road sign was updated to the newer lowercase logo. There were other Stripes remnants inside (employee uniforms, etc.) but these all disappeared soon after.

Chicks into Stripes

Picture from October 2019.
As we wrap up 2019 for this site, I'd like to share one more story with you. Like Greensworld, this post was supposed to be part of a "Highway 6" series. I was convinced when 7-Eleven bought Stripes from Sunoco, that the Stripes at Briarcrest and Highway 6 would be deemed an outlier and closed. That hasn't happened yet, and as such, it takes the crown of the largest 7-Eleven store in the United States (if it was actually branded as such).

The roots of this super-Stripes (600 North Earl Rudder Freeway) goes back to its roots as a mega-convenience store called Chicks. While its early years are fairly well documented on Yelp, the 12,000 square foot store was supposed to be a Buc-ee's knockoff, to the point where a lawsuit was filed. While Internet armchair lawyers argued that the logo was not a problem, a reveal inside was different, as Chicks had a line of gourmet foods similar in packaging to Buc-ee's, even a version of the sugary "Beaver Nuggets" (basically imagine Cheetos except with caramel coating instead of cheese dust). The lawsuit did force Chicks to change its logo (same shape but just the "CHICKS" name with red, white, and blue) before in 2014, when the store was sold to Stripes. Stripes briefly closed and reopened the store, and liquidated much of the old Chicks store merchandise for its own, and would replace the frozen yogurt counter of Chicks with a Laredo Taco Company (however, Chicks' hamburgers continued to be sold).

One more fun fact: a second (much smaller) Chicks was intended to go in at Highway 40 and Wellborn Road, this ended up being built as a Stripes instead.

Going forward into 2020, I intend to add much less to the site, as much of this year's content (over 40 new posts!) was breaking up existing posts and existing writing. An easy way to check on new updates is to join me on Facebook where updates, new and old, or just a post that I think deserves another look, will be posted.