Poor sales result in closing of convenience store

People in Carpentersville thirsting for a Slurpee at 7-Eleven will now have to patronize the store on Route 25.

That’s because 7-Eleven corporate officials recently closed the store on Route 68 due to declining sales, a 7-Eleven spokeswoman confirmed Thursday. That location opened in November of 1971 and was the older of the village’s two stores.

“The sales just weren’t where they needed to be and we couldn’t justify the cost of a major remodel, so that’s why it’s closed,” Spokeswoman Margaret Chabris said. “We open stores every day, close some throughout the year too, so this is not unusual.”

This particular 7-Eleven is in the 3000 block of Wakefield Drive and closed for good May 30. Carpentersville’s other 7-Eleven store on Route 25 will remain open, Chabris said.

Eleven employees worked there and they have all been offered positions within other 7-Eleven stores, Chabris said.

The village would like to see another convenience store there, due to the size of the store and its location, Assistant Village Manager Joe Wade said.

“It’s the traffic on 68 as well as the population density within that neighborhood,” Wade said, adding that between 25,000 and 30,000 vehicles pass the store each day.

Village officials are now in talks with a business that wants to open inside the shuttered store, Wade said. He declined to release the name of the business because nothing has been finalized yet, he said.

Dallas-based 7-Eleven had been operating the store for about a year, Chabris said. Before that, the store was run by a franchisee, she said.

7-Eleven has more than 50,000 stores all over the world, including more than 8,000 in the United States, including more than 460 in Illinois, Chabris said.