The Shorthorn - Nearest 7-Eleven closes before lease expires

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Nearest 7-Eleven closes before lease expires

Written by William Johnson, The Shorthorn staff

Wednesday, 27 January 2010 08:20 PM

One of the closest gas station to campus, the Valero is alternative to the newly-closed 7-Eleven east of Arlington Hall. (The Shorthorn: Raziq Brown)

Students returned from the winter break to find that the 7-Eleven gas station on West Second Street was boarded up and vacated. In an early move, the convenience store closed over the break.

Management vacated the building before alerting the university administration.

The store maintained a lease with the university for use of the property until September 2010. Due to construction of the special events center, university administration reached an agreement with the store for an early termination, said Eric Leidlein, Management Services executive director.

The store’s new lease agreement continued through March 1, said John Hall, administration and campus operations vice president. The swift closing of 7-Eleven was a surprise to him as well. He said he didn’t notice the closing of the store until he returned from the holidays.

“I anticipated that the store would remain open until that date,” he said.

The store closed early so that the gas lines could be shut off months in advance to the end of the lease, said JoAnn Langloys 7-Eleven real estate contact.

Places to get gas and groceries:

Snap-N-Go - 1300 S. Cooper St. (13-minute walk)
Valero Corner Store - 615 W. Abram St. (11-minute walk)
Shell Food Mart - 801 W. Main St. (15-minute walk)

Undeclared freshman Faraz Hussain frequented 7-Eleven in the early morning hours. Kalpana Chawla Hall resident, Hussain said that he found the store useful at any time of the day or night.

“It’s disappointing,” he said. “If I was about to run out of gas, then I could always make it there, or I could walk there whenever I wanted to.”

Jacob Burkholder, mechanical engineering freshman and KC Hall resident, said that the closing was a “tragedy” for him.

“When you needed a late night coffee, or just wanted to take a walk somewhere, 7-Eleven was the place to go,” he said.

Although the administration had plans to remove the store early, the sudden closing was not connected to the university. It does give developers an early start on demolition of the store.

“Because of the age of the building, it contains asbestos,” Hall said.

He also said that the demolition date of the store was pushed back to accommodate the removal of the asbestos.

The university is considering including a grocery store in the retail section of the special events center, Hall said. Students can still obtain gas from locations close to campus.

The university Web site maintains a list of places nearby where students can go for food and gas.

Hussain said that he plans to get gas and food from the Valero Corner Store on West Abram Street.

“I’ll just have to find somewhere new to go,” he said. “There are plenty of places, but none are as convenient as 7-11.”
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