That was quick!
7-Eleven shuttered their St. Mark’s Place store on Sunday just 18 months after claiming a prime East Village spot, as locals and late-night partiers failed to fall hard enough for Big Gulps and Go-Go Taquitos.
The cheap ‘n’ easy chain’s invasion of a downtown hipster stronghold — opening three East Village and Bowery locations in the last two years — appalled residents and neighboring business owners.
Opponents feared 7-Eleven would hurt mom and pops and turn the surroundings — already under siege from rising recents — into suburbia. A local blog, “no7eleven,” sprang up to organize rallies and a boycott.
Apparently, it worked. Another blog, EV Grieve, spotted trucks emptying the shop between Bowery and 2nd Avenue of gear and merchandise on Sunday.
With one down, and two to go, most locals said good riddance.
“I would rather go to St. Mark’s Market,” said Mike Romano, 26, a retail purchaser who lives in the East Village. “It’s always the tourists who go to the 7-Eleven. They don’t know you can go to the corner deli Gem Spa and buy everything.”
“I feel like there are so many better options than 7-Eleven,” said Shauna Westgate, 39, who works in the neighborhood and lives in East Williamsburg. “I would rather support small businesses than a big chain. Plus, it was ugly.”
But one longtime businessman who’s struggling to stay put, Terry McCoy of St. Mark’s Bookshop, was of two minds.
“I sympathize with the idea that we need more individual and independent businesses than chain businesses—to keep the neighborhood vibrant,” said McCoy, a 36-year veteran of the East Village retail corridor, which has seen a lot of rent-induced closures. “How about a record store? That would be nice. A liquor store, dress store, jewelry store.”
But he added, “I feel sorry for the guys who bought the [7-Eleven] franchise.”
Pedro Cruz, 44, a Harlemite who manages the Whiskers Holistic Pet Care store near Astor Place, just misses the selection.
“It was convenient and the prices were lower than anything else around here,” Cruz lamented. “I want my little tacos — four for a dollar. They took away the nachos!”
“Everywhere else is corporate,” he groused. “Why start here?”