Along the small stretch of Route 1 that College Park calls home, there are many businesses. Four of these on that stretch of road alone are 7-Elevens.
Is four 7-Elevens too many for a tiny stretch of highway? Probably. You can decide against buying a Slurpee at one location and five minutes later be forced to make the same decision when confronted again with that green, red and orange sign.
Not all 7-Elevens are created equal. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said, “It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.” I’m not sure what he was referring to when he said that, but I’m going to assume it was about 7-Elevens. I set out to find these important little differences among the four 7-Elevens before ranking the establishments from worst to best. To avoid confusion, and because most of these locations are on the same road, I have referred to each store by its more colloquial address.
4. The One Next to Burger King
Spatially, this 7-Eleven was already off to a bad start. This location is basically a short hallway full of cereal and candy bars with some odd crates of off-brand sodas precariously stacked at one end. In terms of Slurpees, this location had a fair selection, although it was missing the blue raspberry flavor, which, along with the cherry flavor, should really be available at every 7-Eleven at all times. Cherry and blue raspberry are the only flavors people truly care about, and to deprive customers of one them is to separate a flawless duality that has stood the test of time. This 7-Eleven also insisted on selling those animal hats with the gloves and half-sleeves attached. Suffice to say, these hats were not helpful in making a case that this location should be anywhere but at the bottom of the list.
3. The One on Knox Road Next to Terrapin’s Turf
I understand this could be the busiest 7-Eleven out of the four locations, seeing as it’s the closest to the College Park bar scene, but why are there constantly enormous trucks making deliveries in the parking lot? How often could a 7-Eleven possibly have to restock? And if it does have to restock that often, why hasn’t it just begun ordering more to compensate? These truck-related questions alone put this location on the bottom half of the list.
2. The One Across From Plato’s Diner
I had never set foot in this 7-Eleven before my investigative journey began, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. This location was clean and didn’t smell overwhelmingly of hot dogs, which are two big positives for a 7-Eleven. There was a University of Maryland banner displayed proudly on one wall and some Spanish music playing at a reasonable volume. The only major downside to this location was that it also lacked a blue raspberry Slurpee flavor, but the place was so close to perfection that I chalked it up to a well-intentioned mistake.
1. The One Under The Varsity
This 7-Eleven holds the highest ranking mostly because it’s probably the biggest. This location is clean with a wide selection. The only major downside is that, compared to the glorious Royal Farms that once stood in its spot, this 7-Eleven is a chicken-less nightmare. But for one to move forward, one must put the past aside. Upon doing so, I came to the conclusion that this 7-Eleven reigned supreme.
Although some 7-Elevens were better than others, all of these locations had those similar homey qualities patrons have come to know and love. There was always the ingenious warming system that is the taquito and hot dog roller, cases full of assorted beverages (but mostly Gatorade) and a coffee station where the majority of the coffee resided in puddles on the counter. I also enjoyed that the workers never questioned the girl walking around taking notes or the fact that she was holding a donut from a different 7-Eleven.
