7-Eleven Moving Onto Historic NYC Block

NEW YORK -- Continuing its expansion in New York City, 7-Eleven Inc. is set to open its doors on St. Marks Place in Manhattan.

The new location -- on a block dotted with tattoo and piercing parlors -- is part of the convenience store giant's growth strategy to introduce 20 new stores to the city annually until 2017, as CSNews Online previously detailed.

7-Eleven has 93 locations in New York City: 18 in Manhattan, 19 in Brooklyn, 40 in Queens and eight in both the Bronx and Staten Island, the Daily News reported.

In the East Village alone, there is already a storefront on the Bowery, and two new 7-Elevens will open by the end of the summer on Broadway, near E. 12th St., and E. 14th St., west of Second Avenue, a company spokeswoman told the news outlet.

However, not everyone is eager to welcome the c-store retailer to the neighborhood.

"This is not part of what our local community storefronts are," Gary Steinkohl, who has lived on E. Ninth St. for 25 years, told the newspaper. He was adamant that the chain store would "absolutely not" fit in.

St. Marks Place has gone from "some alternative lifestyle, anything goes, place to a more mainstream, citified street that's almost like any other," he added.

Some residents and retailers are taking their opposition to the new 7-Eleven a bit further, vowing to run the franchise out of the area when it opens at the end of April, the report added.

"We would not open a store we didn't think would be of convenience to the neighborhood," company spokesperson Margaret Chabris told the Daily News. "We typically franchise a store to someone who lives close by, and we want franchisees to become a contributing part of their store's community."