First 24-hour Convenience Store

A college football game helped launch the 24-hour convenience store.

The company now known as 7-Eleven has a history of being ahead of the curve. Back in 1927, when its founders were running the Southland Ice Company in Texas, an executive recognized the potential of selling basic provisions like milk and bread alongside the ice blocks that were essential to households in the days before refrigerators were common. With a little company restructuring, the first convenience store chain was up and running.  In 1946 the name was changed to 7-Eleven, a reference to the hours of operation.

In 1963, 7-Eleven opened its 1,000th store, but a more significant milestone in the convenience store realm was also about to happen. Around this time, according to Oh Thank Heaven!: The Story of the Southland Corporation, one store located near  UT-Austin found itself unusually busy in the hours after a football game, to the point where employees never had the chance to shut the doors for the night.  Same thing the next week, and the company’s brain trust sniffed a potentially transformative moment for the business, establishing 24-hour shops near TCU in Fort Worth and SMU in Dallas.

Meanwhile, another 24-hour experiment was unfurling at a 7-Eleven near the Strip in Las Vegas, a move that yielded an increase in profits and the surprise side effect of deterring burglaries. Eventually, both 7-Eleven and their competitors realized that  sometimes everyone needs a 24-hour pit stop to help make it through the night.