LAKEHURST – It is getting tougher and tougher to find a 7-Eleven convenience store in Ocean County. Within the last few years at least four closed their doors and now the borough’s long-time 7-Eleven has done the same.
The franchise closed its Route 70 location as part of a plan to sell 18 7-Eleven and Speedway stores in the state. The plan involves selling some stores and closing others.
The Speedway stores that 7-Eleven acquired from Hess Corporation’s retail operations, from Marathon Oil in 2021 are also are being sold off. They include one at 1741 Hooper Avenue in Toms River, Washington, Hackettstown and Pennsauken.
7-Eleven stores will close in Scotch Plains, Newark, Butler, Elwood Park and Hackettstown. Stores in Barnegat and Holmdel are also up for sale.
According to NJBiz.com, 7-Eleven, based in Texas, has 13,000 stores in North America. There are 370 in New Jersey. The franchise is seeking to sublease some of the locations and bids were due in on the first of this month.
Across the nation, 7-Eleven is selling 73 of its stores in 22 states. The locations will be sold through a “buy one, some or all” process minus convenience store branding. The sales and leases which include the property as well, are being run by NRC Realty and Capital Advisers.
The franchise has been facing stiff competition by one if its major competitors Wawa, over the last few decades. A Wawa store is currently being built near the Lakehurst circle at Lilac Street and Union Avenue near Route 70.
Wawa has 277 locations in the Garden State and around 981 overall. Brick Township will see its sixth Wawa soon.
Another competitor, QuickChek, has approximately 160 stores across New Jersey and New York. QuickChek has plans to add more stores in the future.
The Lakehurst 7-Eleven hasn’t had much traffic and shut down this past week as part of the company’s downsizing plan. The franchise is considered the largest convenience store chain in the country. There were signs inside store to inform regular customers that the store was ending its tenure in the borough noting that “everything must go.”
