At Front & Girard, in a former KFC that looks like it was once on fire, a 7-11 will soon welcome customers with slurpees and weird hot dog varieties.

Future 7-11

It’s perhaps not the most intuitive addition to this area, which is seeing tremendous residential and retail development from local builders and entrepreneurs, and relatively few national franchises. The owners of the McDonald’s across the street and with the recently opened Deal$ immediately next door might disagree, but the McDonald’s opened years ago, when things were very different in the area, and we were kind of surprised when Deal$ opened, too.

Deals for all!

The only explanation that we can come up with is that the area within half a block of the Market-Frankford elevated line is necessarily going to be a little more rugged than the rest of the surrounding neighborhood due to the significant commuter traffic, as well as the noise of the train and the shadow of the tracks. Perhaps most of the smaller local developers are inclined to look elsewhere as a result. We imagine that 7-11 will do just fine at this new location, mostly servicing customers going to or coming from the train. We just wish that this rather large parcel could have had a cooler use.

And to be honest, we’re still really bummed that the Jumbo Theater is a Deal$ and not a restaurant/music venue.

And maybe we’re just taking it out on poor little 7-11.

But then again, maybe not.