Slurpees, taquitos and other snacks will soon be available at Northside after a new convenience store opens later this month.
The 7-Eleven chain will expand to UTD on Aug. 23, bringing with it Amazon lockers, extra slurpee flavors and a refrigerated room for beer. The store, located on the western corner of Northside Phase 1 near the intersection of Synergy Park Boulevard and Rutford Avenue, will remain open 24/7. Unlike other businesses at Northside or on campus, it will maintain the same hours on school breaks.
The store’s grand opening on the 23rd will have free slurpees, free coffee, free big gulps and coupons for any customer who shows up. For slurpee fans, there will also be a truck with expanded flavors on hand.
As part of 7-Eleven’s rollout of delivery services in Dallas, the Northside store will soon be able to deliver products directly to students’ doors. Another feature that will soon be rolled out is a mobile-phone based self-checkout application. 7-Eleven field consultant Zain Abbass said the app will allow students to skip the line entirely.
“They can just grab an item, open their phone, scan it, and pay on their phone. (Students can) show the associate their phone and just walk out. Self check-out, essentially,” Abbass said.
One feature that will be unique to this location is a wine fixture. A portion of the store will have dedicated wine shelving, housing a larger selection than is typical of 7-Eleven stores. This will be in addition to what 7-Eleven calls the “Beer Cave,” which will stock a large selection of bottled and canned beers.
The store will also have energy-saving lighting. Light sensors detect the amount of natural light coming through the windows and dim the lights accordingly. This system works on a per-light basis, dimming the lights closest to the windows first while still keeping the light level high towards the back of the store.
As the store sells products through the coming months, it will adjust inventory to students’ tastes. Abbass says he expects certain sections such as cleaning supplies to be expanded after opening.