MELVILLE, New York — 7-Eleven announced last week that it is closing more than 400 stores in North America, where there are currently more than 13,000 locations. The convenience store chain began in 1927 when one of the locations of the Southland Ice Company in Dallas began selling milk, eggs and bread in addition to ice. This successful strategy led to the creation of the Southland Corporation which expanded these convenience stores, renamed as Tote’m Stores. In 1946 they changed the name of the expanding chain to 7-Eleven, reflecting the extended hours that the stores were open, which was very unusual at that time.
Southland went on to open more stores and also to purchase competing convenience store chains, achieving a value of more than $5 billion in the mid-1980’s, before taking a huge financial hit during the stock market crash of 1987. Southland eventually filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ownership was transferred to a Japanese corporation. What is a Jewish connection to 7-Eleven?
E. When franchisee Electra Consumer Products opened their first 7-Eleven store in Israel, they promised that their stores would be kosher, to ensure that the large Orthodox population would patronize the store. However, the Chief Rabbi announced that Jews should not enter 7-Eleven stores because of the quote from Joshua 7:11 which reads “Israel has sinned! They have broken the covenant by which I bound them. They have taken of the proscribed and put it in their vessels; they have stolen; they have broken faith!” As a result, the 7-Eleven stores in Israel have all shut down.
Link to answer: http://rrrjewishtrivia.com/answers-2024/7-eleven-answer.html
In 1946 they changed the name of the expanding chain to 7-Eleven, reflecting the extended hours that the stores were open, which was very unusual at that time.
I’m surprised they never renamed it 7-Twenty-four.