A Brief History of Everyone's Favorite Convenience Store, 7-Eleven
The 7-Eleven chain was founded in 1927 in Dallas, Texas. It was the forerunner of the convenience store idea when it started out as an ice company, by selling milk, bread and eggs along with the ice. In 1946, the name 7-Eleven (Originally 7-to-11) was adopted because of their business hours at the time, 7 a.m to 11 p.m, of course they're all open 24/7 now.
Interestingly enough, 7-Eleven Inc. is also is the world's largest operator, franchisor and licensor of convenience stores with more than 21,000 units worldwide and is one of the nation's largest independent gasoline retailers. Its corporate name was changed from The Southland Corporation to 7-Eleven Inc., after approval by shareholders on April 28, 1999.
Today, it is known for the Big Gulp® and Slurpee®. Ooh.
Sources
http://7-11.com/
Brouws, Jeff et al. Highway: America's Endless Dream. New York: Steart, Tabori & Chang. 1997.