Hold up… There’s Really Only One 7-Eleven Left In Southwest Michigan?
There used to be several 7-Eleven stores in Southwest Michigan, but now we are down to only one. It is located on Mt. Olivet Rd. in Kalamazoo, just outside the city of Parchment. That's correct. If you want a Slurpee or a Big Gulp, some of you will have to travel. "Oh thank heaven" there is still one around though, right?
Kalamazoo used to have at least four 7-Eleven stores. Along with the remaining one on Mt. Olivet, there was a store at the intersection of Drake Rd. and "KL" Ave. and another on W. Michigan Ave., both located near the Western Michigan University campus. Another one was located at S. Westnedge and Cork Street. Two of those locations are liquor stores operating under different names and ownership. In Battle Creek, there was one on Riverside Drive near Columbia Avenue and one on North Avenue. There were probably others that operated in our region over the years, but the brain freeze from dreaming about Slurpees is clogging our memories.
Other than the lone store in Kalamazoo, the closest ones to Southwest Michigan are in Jackson and Zeeland. There are still plenty of 7-Elevens in other parts of Michigan. In fact, according to the locations section on the 7-Eleven website, there are at least 204 locations across the state. Many of them are in the greater Detroit area.
Can you help us out? Are there any 7-Eleven stores you remember in Southwest Michigan that we are forgetting about?