...and from above...
Meanwhile, Khalif from East Village Deli at 217 Avenue A shows off his "No 7-Eleven" pride...
The movement is growing...
Top photos by Shawn Chittle
Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] More from the anti-7-Eleven front on Avenue A and East 11th Street
7-Eleven alert: Are 2 chain stores replacing Bar on A and Angels & Kings?
First sign of the incoming 7-Eleven on Avenue A
Avenue A's anti-7-Eleven campaign now includes arsenal of 20,000 stickers
"No 7 Eleven" they chant wearing their clothes made in Chinese sweatshops.
ReplyDeleteI'm only asking for consistency and a deeper analysis.
Love the No 7-Eleven sticker placed right under the b.s. extra charge for using a credit card warning.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, really disappointing to see a chain like this moving so deeply into the neighborhood.
But let's also not pretend that all the other bodegas are utopias with no problematic situations of their own.
Margaret Chabris is going to have a busy week!
ReplyDeleteBe careful! Those 7-Eleven employees will http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhgQ1URtrCs&feature=player_embeddedbite you!
ReplyDelete@nycgrump - my Schott was made in NYC and my Docs in England. My other clothes - Trash & Vaudeville classic made in this here country... Consistant and NO hypocracy :) JOIN US!!
ReplyDeleteHey, I know Khalif! *waves*
ReplyDeleteAlso, hat tip to whomever chalked ANTI-PRINGLE-IZATION. Ha ha. That's awesome
So anyone questioned what happens if they succeed? If they actually get 7 - 11 out of that space? what then ? another freakin bar ?
ReplyDelete@NYGrump:
ReplyDelete1. My polypropylene long underwear, military issue, MADE IN USA
2. My New Balance sneakers, MADE IN USA
3. My grandfather's WWII issue jacket, MADE IN USA
4. My UAW Local 589 t-shirt, MADE IN USA
5. My military issue wool socks, MADE IN USA
6. My handmade scarf made by my Mother, MADE IN USA
I don't always wear American, but when I do, I wear it proudly.
This is f*cking awesome.
ReplyDeleteps - it's not a bs charge - they get charged a processing fee by the cc companies. duh. welcome to the planet...
This is awesome! 7-Eleven should stick to its roots and stay in areas of suburban blight.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan placing anti-7/11 writings and stickers on private property and support the rights of businesses to open wherever they please.
ReplyDeleteThat said, how could a 7-11 even survive in the East Village? I thought the point of living in the East Village was to enjoy unique people, places, events and establishments. Patronizing a 7-11 in the East Village actually destroys the characteristics of the neighborhood the customer (both visitors and residents) was attracted to in the first place.
Sorry that was so long. I really don't understand how these quickie marts are popping up left, right, and center.
Cry about it.
ReplyDeleteFree enterprise.
You don't have to support it, but nothing wrong with it.
I don't see mom & pop stores being able to afford the high rents.
I do not blame the landlords.
nygrump -- will corporate control
ReplyDeletefrom afar really serve labor
better once there's nothing left in
NYC but corporate control? At least
there are local labor orgs that
deal with sweatshops, and
sweatshops don't get special
exemptions from city regulations
(the city exempted convenience
stores like 7-Eleven from the
supersize ban just when 7-Eleven
entered the NYC market, and the
supersize sugar drink is a 7-Eleven
trademark).
Mike -- they're not popping up,
their being opened by a corporate
strategy -- over 100 new stores
planned in NYC. That strategy is
not to find a market but to choke
out what's already there already
serving us viably and then to
monopolize the market. When they've
commandeered the market, then, like
Starbucks, they'll close a bunch of
non-sustainable excess stores.
Until then, they'll support those
excess stores with their corporate
resources. It's a corporate take-
over of your streets. And what do
7-Elevens sell? Corporate packaged
goods. This is not the free market.
It's bullying from above bulldozing
everything from below. Adam Smith
is rolling in his grave.
@Rob
ReplyDeleteI would be really interested to hear more about the parties involved in the smoke filled room of the soda ban policy talks. The timing of the ban and 7-11's entrance to the market is very suspect. It seems like it was crafted perfectly to allow 7-11 to get an advantage.
I hope the story comes out some day.
I am all for free enterprise, but for it to be free, all enterprises should have a level playing field.
@1:11 -- Free enterprise my ass --
ReplyDeleteit's blatant corporate take-over.
The goal is local monopoly. Look at the strategy.
It's not serving a market,
it's closing it out. What do
you think the result will be --
more diversity of offerings catering to the market here?
It'll be a limiting of the market.
No more incredible cashews on 2nd
Ave, no more crazy sandwiches on B.
It's not stopping here. It's
only beginning. They don't stop --
isn't that what the recession
taught us?
@Mike, the East Village has no gates. I bet that the young bros & their ilk on their pub crawls (i.e., people who don't really give a shit about the neighborhood) won't see any problem whatsoever with patronizing a 7-11 for shitty-ass processed food at 3 AM or whatever, since they probably grew up around them in suburbia. Even if no East Villager goes in any 7-11, I think the stores will probably survive. Which sucks.
ReplyDeleteto fit in, 7-11 has proomised to make the one in the East Village an exact replica of the first in the 1960's-they will staff it with one unprotected employee and an unlocked register- and it will be the only one to open at 7am and close at 11pm.
ReplyDeleteA new article in the Observer has an ominous quote from Ken Barnes, Senior Director of Northeast Regional Development for 7-Eleven. “We can’t open more New York locations fast enough,” Mr. Barnes said. “Every neighborhood is a target.”
ReplyDelete7-Eleven spokesperson Margaret Chabris said the neighborhood is a "target" because of it's “young adults and young families on a budget."
Margaret Chabris is quoted as saying "Currently, this part of the East Village is underserved... 7-Eleven will provide attractive stores and bring new jobs, a franchise business opportunity and services to this part of town."
This corporate issued statement is untrue. There is already an existing bodega one block north of the incoming Avenue A / 11th Street 7-Eleven, as well as an existing bodega one block south. There is no need or demand for a 7-Eleven at this location.
The sidewalks and streets are not private property so chalking is legal. Police stopped by last night, checked out the group, and left them to their chalking.
ReplyDeleteAgain, there is no need to fear. Depinto and crew will smacked down hard by the trifecta of Poppy's , Westville, and Tompkins Square Bagels. He will be thoroughly embarrassed in front of his fellow CEO's for choosing such a dopey location. Joe: This ain't the Midwest. Hell, it ain't even the West Village or Murry Hill. The kids in this schoolyard play rough. So bring your A game and be prepared to get knocked around. You're going up against hardened New Yorker's this time. We will scratch and claw and do whatever it takes to win. Andiamo baby ! Bring it .
ReplyDeleteEvery 7-Eleven in the city should be chalked nightly!
ReplyDeleteI like it, it's a mostly civilized way of voicing an opinion. People don't like to be "targeted" by corporations and I can understand the reaction and response to 7-11's mission. And to me, it runs a little deeper than just an opposition to the 7-11, it's the implications. The area around 11th and A is one of the few enclaves left in the city that is mostly free of chain stores and 7-11 is an especially visible and soul-less type of chain store and I think people are afraid of some kind of beachhead being established.
ReplyDelete@ Bagel Guy
ReplyDeleteRIGHTFUCKINON!
Give 'em HELL Cap'n!
I got a '69 Chevy with a 396
ReplyDeleteFuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down on Avenue A
Outside the Seven-Eleven store...
Made a quick map of the bodegas I go to, and how 7-11 is NOT NEEDED IN THE EAST VILLAGE.
ReplyDeleteThere are not ONE, not TWO, but THREE within ONE BLOCK!
http://i.imgur.com/Fboc6wO.png
How is 7-11 any less local than a bodega whose owners lives in Edison?
ReplyDeleteOf course 7-11 is engaging in a corporate strategy to open as many stores in and make as much money from the East Village as possible. But just because that strategy, and the one to defeat its competition, comes from a corporation doesn't change the fact that it is part of the free market system and can only succeed if enough people voluntarily buy their products.
ReplyDeleteWe may not like what pops up as a result of that strategy, but the ultimate success of it comes to what people freely choose to buy or not buy.
Yes, I support 7-11's right to its strategy without having its windows smashed, but I cannot understand how anyone would choose say, a hot dog that's been on rollers for hours over something like Belgian fries at the candy store. If chalking helps draw attention to what 7-11 is doing and drives them out, that's cool too. Actually, preferable.
What if hot dogs are all that's available?
ReplyDeleteMike, you are way too generous. Adam Smith
(forgive my pulling names)
observed right at the start that markets
are all conditioned by their context.
Suppose your bodega survives because
there are only two on your block, but then
a corporate entity with unlimited resources
opens four surrounding you. You'll lose
enough market share to close. Then watch
as the corporate entity close the excess
stores that it used solely to close you down,
leaving only their store and their hot dogs
which everyone must buy now, like it or not.
We saw this with the bars. There used to
be sustainable copy shops on nearly every
corner. Bars can pay higher rents and they
have no competition: density of bars
create a strip attracting more non-local
patrons. The result was the replacement
of a local "free market" with a non-local
"free market." The local service and the
local consumer lost, not to a competition
for that service but to a different market context.
That's going to happen to the convenience
market -- non-local commerce will replace
local convenience stores because 7-Eleven
is within the kids' comfort zone. And the
kids really do like 7-Eleven and don't care
about local markets or corporate control
of the market from afar. That's really the
battle -- the kids vs local commerce. In any case,
using "free market" as a
catch-all for the complexities and distortions
of economies is misleading at best,
in my opinion, 7-Eleven
corporate hypocrisy at worst.
7-11 was a Mom & Pop operation founded in nineteen fckin twenty-seven; it's the epitome of the American Success Story. Some people want their Slim Jims and if you're not one of them, quit whining and don't shop there. Turn your attention to something truly important like the massive rat infestation in Tompkins Square Park.
ReplyDeleteWho are these people supporting 7-Eleven??? Really?! lol
ReplyDelete@ Ben Shaoul 2:36
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking in. Park should be free of rats by summer then you can sell more poorly renovated apartments to newbies for $2,000 a head.
The East Village does not need 7-Eleven. They are opening up next to existing stores. Other than Super Cuts or Dress Barn, I can't think of a lamer chain to come to the neighborhood.
ReplyDeleteYeah, 2:36, an American success like Citibank,
ReplyDeleteGoldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Moody's.
Try Russo's beef jerky on 11th St. Way better.
Or the jerky in Chinatown, Elizabeth St.
This is New York, for f**k's sake,
not some wasteland surfer town.
Does 7-11 have to pay the credit card company a surcharge if they accept a credit card for payment? They do? But they don't pass it on to the customer? Weird. Is anyone trying to make sure that I stay in business?
ReplyDeleteYou raise good points Rob, but at the end of the day, the results of free market competition always come down to choice. Corporate "invasions" can only decrease a local bodega's market share if the consumers are willing to give business to the newcomers.
ReplyDeleteIf people choose 7-11 over a bodega, like they might, or the Bean over Starbucks, like the are, so be it.
2:36PM
ReplyDelete"it's the epitome of the American Success Story"
It IS or it WAS?
I'm sure the Thompsons made a lot of dough, but 7-11 is not an American company.
I'm just curious when citizens' right to assemble, organize and boycott stopped being part of the "free market systemTM"? Apparently people may only be participants in the "free market systemTM" by not patronizing providers.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, democratically implemented legislation regulating the conduct of corporate entities is a violation of the "free market systemTM", but government implemented legislation regulating the conduct of natural persons is not.
Choice is a fiction too, Mike -- gotta eat,
ReplyDeletegotta bank unless you like a lumpy mattress,
and look at the options: a Chase on every corner
or one lone Credit Union way over on B. Corporates
own your choices.
@3:34, 5:50 and 5:54 -- 'NO 7-Eleven'
is on FB and Twitter. Hope I get to meet you all at
our next gathering. Mike included. (-:
"Freemarket TM" -- nailed it.
Drop me a line. lesrrd@gmail.com
The arguments against commercial zoning restrictions
ReplyDeleteare not about free market fictions. The worry is over rent
distortions.
Restrictions on corporate outlets drive
commercial rents down just as restrictions on liquor
licenses do. In a low-income rental district, landlords
depend on high-rent commerce. Lose that and you
can see landlords abandoning buildings.
But most EV landlords are rolling in dough, though
they don't tell you that, and the landlord of this location,
Shaoul, is a real estate magnate.
There is no threat of depressing this neighborhood.
On the contrary, it's attracting revenue through NYU.
So the economic consequences of a restriction here
would be beneficial to the community, allowing services
that are useful and desirable but that have lower profit
margins than chains and bars. You might even get a
bookstore or a performance space. The burden would
be borne by the landlord, but in this neighborhood,
he won't be hurt enough to abandon or even curtail services.
Lower rents will have no effect on prices as long as
we have plenty of local convenience store competition,
and why would they close unless 7-Eleven breaks them?