Once again, the greatest day of the year falls upon us! Every year on July 11th, everyone’s favorite mini mart gives away free Slurpees from 11 AM to 7 PM.
Happy 7/11! Celebrate with a FREE small @Slurpee, today only from 11AM to 7PM. RT TO SAVE A LIFE!
With over 14 million Slurpees being sold every month, it’s no surprise that the chain has been around for 88 wonderful years.
For today and today only, you can get a FREE Slurpee from 7-Eleven. Granted, it’s a small, but you can just go to five or six different locations and put them all together to make a big one. We all know there’s a 7-Eleven every 30 feet anyways.
This year, 7-Eleven throws another promotion into the ring: starting tomorrow, if you order seven Slurpees with the app over the next week, you’ll get 11 free!
“Open 24 Hours” may be the best three words in the English language. Photo: Justin Taylor
7-Eleven: Home to the Slurpee, questionably grilled meats, and 3 am toilet paper runs. Throughout its 88-year history, the company has ingrained itself into our culture, our neighborhood, and our clogged hearts.
But what do we really know about this pervasive business?
Who had the idea to start 7-Eleven?
7-Eleven began as a roll of the dice from Southland Ice Company founder Joe C. Thompson when an employee, John Jefferson Green, suggested the company should begin selling household staples like bread and milk in their Texas ice stores.
Jefferson kept his store open during evenings and Sundays and seeing its success, Thompson Sr. later adopted these hours throughout all of their locations. The company took a major hit during The Great Depression, but the end of Prohibition ultimately saved the company (because nothing stirs American wallets quite like easily accessible alcohol).
Prohibition + Illuminati reference. Photo: wackystuff
How did it get its name?
Originally, the stores were called Tote’m stores because customers would tote their purchases home. Many locations were decked out in Eskimo decor after Thompson visited Alaska because nothing draws customers in like a large totem pole in the middle of Texas.
In order to further differentiate themselves from grocery stores, Tote’ms opened at the scandalous hours of 7am to 11pm. In 1946, all Tote’ms became 7-Eleven’s in a massive, pre-television marketing move in order to promote their relatively revolutionary hours.
Because of the most Texan reason possible: football. In 1963, the aftermath of a college football game in Austin kept the local 7-Eleven so busy, the store couldn’t close. Several locations experimented with 24/7 hours on the weekends until the entire chain realized how high demand was for life’s necessities (read: cigarettes and soda pop) in the middle of the night.
What’s the difference between an ICEE and a Slurpee ?
A powerful marketing team and a potentially addictive mystery ingredient (high fructose corn syrup or heroin, depending on the tongue color of who you ask). 7-Eleven’s notorious Slurpee was originally marketed as an ICEE, but the name and product was revamped after a couple of years to connect the syrupy frozen drinks directly to the chain.
With over 14 million sold per month, the Slurpee is the most popular beverage associated with 7-Eleven. Slurpees remain so beloved that people are willing to fill rice cookers with the brain-freeze-inducing beverage.
BRAAAIIINNN FREEEZZEEEE Photo: Austin Kirk
Is it a franchise or a just a chain?
7-Eleven is the (relatively) easiest franchise to purchase from a major chain. Up until the 2008 recession, 7-Eleven franchises were first class tickets to the American Dream for thousands of Southeast Asian immigrants. Today, 7-Eleven is one of the largest franchise companies in the world with over 56,000 stores in 18 countries. For reference, McDonald’s has a measly 35,000 restaurants worldwide.
Who signs the checks?
In order to save 7-Eleven from its second bankruptcy (still less than Donald Trump and the first occurred after The Great Depression), the Japanese company Seven & I Holdings acquired 7-Eleven. The move underscores Japan’s unparalleled love for 7-Eleven stores, one-third of which are densely packed throughout the small country.
7 Facts You Can’t Un-know
An unsettling, Illuminati-esque 666,000 pounds of glaze are used each month on 7-Eleven’s donuts, fritters, and other pastries.
If you watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy, a 7-Eleven will have opened during the credits of each film.
7-Eleven has the largest ATM network of any US retailer.
Most Slurpees are certified kosher because everyone should be able to enjoy their diabetes-inducing satisfaction.
In 1949, 7-Eleven’s made convenience store history with its punny commercial which featured the tagline “You Auto Know.” Unfortunately for them, Alanis Morissette hadn’t been born yet.
For 20 years, 7-Eleven has been giving American police departments millions of Slurpee coupons to dole out to upstanding youths during the summer.
One out of four of you are within a mile of a 7-Eleven.
Drinking games always seem to bust out at non-drinking establishments—a house party, a cabin getaway, a backyard barbecue. Yet nobody ever seems to play them at bars. Maybe you don’t have the props, maybe you don’t want to blackout in public, maybe you’re just there to drown your miserable sorrows miserably. However, if you always wanted to, but just thought it was too much of a spectacle, rest assured, it doesn’t have to be. Here are three drinking games you can totally get away with at a pub without everyone glaring you down all stink-eyed.
1. Beer Hockey
Hey, it’s sort of like exercise! Well, okay, sure, it’s not really at all. At your table/arena, everyone has a bottle of beer in front of them (or pint or can, I guess). Someone spins a quarter and calls out the name of another player. Everyone except that named player immediately protects their beer with two fingers (usually in the standard stupid rock ‘n roll sign). The named person then flicks the spinning quarter at a player’s beer, maybe even the original spinner. If it’s a hit, everyone else takes their beer off the table, so that the person who flicked the coin can spin it again, during which time the person chugs said hit beer. He/she can’t stop until the quarter does. What makes it all the more buckwild is that everyone else can keep the quarter going. If the drinker finishes the beer while the quarter is still spinning, then “Instant Revenge” can be enacted by slamming the drained beer on the quarter. Whoever last touched the quarter must drink with the quarter spinning in the same deal. Also, if you can’t get the quarter spinning after three times, your beer goes to “The Penalty Box,” meaning you don’t get to block it, ya soft-fingered dummy.
2. Sevens, Elevens, and Doubles
Think of the Beyoncé jam “7/11” with an extra layer of goodness (I know, it’s the challenge of your life). Here, set a glass of booze in the middle of the table. I’m assuming you’re either going with beer or looking for this game to last all of ten minutes by way of liquor. The first player rolls a pair of dice. If any of the namesake—a 7, an 11, or a double—is rolled, then he/she selects another player to drink (if unsuccessful, the person on the left rolls and takes over). The selected player must drink the alcohol in the middle before the rolling player can score another 7, 11, or double. If they can’t pull it off before the right number comes up, the glass if filled once again for another go until they do it proper. Also, if the roller touches the dice before the drinker gets to the cup, they swap roles.
3. Up Jenkins
Two teams on opposite sides of a table stare each other down with malice—or delighted appreciation for one another’s friendly company, I don’t know, they’re your crew. The game starts with the “captain of a team stealthily passing a coin under the table. The players of said pass the coin until the other team’s (elected) captain says, “Up Jenkins.” The team with the coin then places their elbows on the table with their hands pointing toward the ceiling. When “Down Jenkins” is called by the opposing captain, the players slam their hands face-down. The “clink” of the coin is heard and the opposing team has to guess who has it. A right or wrong guess determines which team drinks.
Finally, there’s always the game of Jukebox! Basically, if you put Bon Jovi or Journey on the bar’s jukebox, you, along with every other person in the bar, lose.
What: In celebration of their 50 years in business, 7-Eleven will be offering a small coffee for the measly price of 50 cents. Sadly, iced coffees are not included in this deal.
Where: All participating 7-Eleven locations.
When: The deal will be available starting September 3rd through September 14th.
In case you’re not willing wait for the official nationwide roll-out in July, 7-Eleven is taking their latest Doritos/mozzarella stick hybrid on a multi-city Doritos Loaded sampling tour starting this week.
7-Eleven’s “Cruncheesy” food truck popped by select 7-Eleven stores in Dallas to sling the overloaded cheese triangles yesterday, and will be visiting two other locations in Los Angeles on Friday. More details can found at doritos.7-eleven.com. Or you could just make your own (they’ll probably taste better anyway).
Because bitches hipsters love mason jars and mustaches, 7-Eleven decided to take advantage of this tried and true fact. The purveyors of beef jerky and lotto tickets announced a roll-out of 26 oz mason jars($2.99) and matching mustache straws (99 cents) to promote their classic Slurpees.
The four ‘staches have been dubbed the “British, the handlebar, the Hogan after wrestler Hulk Hogan, and the Swanson, as in Ron Swanson.” While the first Slurpee is free with a purchase of a plastic mason jar, refills are discounted. Oh, and looks like 7-Eleven already caught a few fans on social media. Hook, line and sinker.
The one time of year when slurpee lovers can get a free cup of that heavenly mix of sugary syrup and ice from the Slurpee King’s themselves, 7-11. This year will mark the convenience store’s 83rd birthday and 7-11’s will be giving away 7.11-oz drinks from 7am-11pm while their supplies last. So don’t miss out on this sweet deal. (Thx hayabusa)
