Berkeley Prevents 7-Eleven From Pulling an All-Nighter

Manhattan isn’t the only place pushing back against 7-Eleven. In California, Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board was successful at preventing a new 7-Eleven from staying open all night after concerns over the negative impact the 7-Eleven might have on local crime and safety.

“Berkeley’s Zoning Adjustments Board on Thursday approved 7-Eleven’s application to open a store at 2000 San Pablo Ave. (at University) with an ATM machine and some design changes, but said it did not want the store to be open 24 hours.

The ZAB Board listened to comments from around 25 residents and merchants of the west Berkeley neighborhood whose nexus is the intersection of San Pablo and University where the store would be located. The majority were opposed to a 7-Eleven coming into the area. Their concerns, which were also raised at a community meeting at the proposed 7-Eleven site on Jan. 8, centered on the negative impact such a store might have on local crime and safety, in particular if it was open all night.”

Neighbors are also concerned how the 7-Eleven would impact their local businesses. The area has a significant mix of ethnic food stores and restaurants and was designated an international food district by the city several years ago. 7-Eleven, on the other hand, has a significant mix of junk food.

Zoning Board approves new 7-Eleven, but not 24-hours [Berkeleyside]

7-Eleven’s Identity Crisis: Health Food Nuts or Junk Food Huts?

As 7-Eleven bulldoze their way into New York City, their PR machine is hard at work trying to reinvent the Texas-based cigarette/gas/beer chain as some type of healthy eating oasis for our “underserved” neighborhoods. No small feat considering 7-Eleven is synonymous with KFC bucket-sized sodas, perpetually rotating hot dogs and mashed potatoes served from a vending machine.

But what they tell the press and what they market through their website, social media accounts and that awful junk food app are two completely different things.

On the 7-Eleven website, a majority of the products featured are unhealthy to say the least: sugary energy drinks, Mountain Dew soda and unidentifiable fried things.

The 7-Eleven Facebook page isn’t much better. Of the 15 items shown, only 2 of them – water and fruit – are healthy.

If you’re looking to slip into a sugar coma, look no further than the 7-Eleven Twitter account. Wash down a pile of greasy mini-tacos and a candy bar with a bucket of Big Gulp! SO healthy!

And let’s not forget their GPS junk food locator app!

Of course local bodegas carry some of these items as well but they don’t use junk food and sugar as their main marketing message the way 7-Eleven does. In a time when childhood obesity – and adult obesity for that matter – is on the rise, do we really need 7-Eleven’s junk food shacks on every corner? Don’t our neighborhoods deserve better?

Diabetes? There’s a 7-Eleven App for That!

If you’re searching for your next sugar high 7-Eleven has an app for that! While 7-Eleven’s PR machine is busy talking about the new fresh foods they offer, their Twitter account is talking sugar. Massive amounts of sugar.

The Texas-based 7-Eleven is desperate to reinvent themselves as a purveyor of healthy eating options, especially as they push their way into Manhattan, but the truth is they are all about junk food. A recent tweet by 7-Eleven offers a free Snickers candy bar to people willing to download the 7-Eleven app. To save you the time of downloading an app geared towards the sophisticated palates of young kids and stoners, the 7-Eleven app is nothing more than a store locator with large ads for junk food like donuts, chips, soda, caramel cube coffee, hot chocolate and cookies. “Refresh. Restore. Revitalize.” Regurgitate!

The junk food app contradicts the healthy new image 7-Eleven wants so badly to cultivate. In a recent article on The Global Fruit, a website nobody has heard of, 7-Eleven talks about its “renewed focus on fresh, prepared foods” with packaging and graphics “designed to appeal to Millennial consumers.” No word on who will pay for their insulin.