While scanning the web for some interesting things open 24 hours… I found someone on Yahoo Answers asking why 7-Eleven bothers to have locks on the doors when they supposedly never close? This raises up a really intriguing question actually, since just last week I wrote about L.L. Bean’s decision to take the locks off the doors of the Freeport flagship store back in 1951. If you are going to be open perpetually, why even have locks in the first place? Someone said that they would lock up after a robbery to keep evidence untainted (that makes sense I think). Also, if there’s an emergency and only one person is working, then that would constitute locking up for awhile too. But overall, it seems that they really don’t have a need for the locks most of the time… something you don’t think about when you’re there at 3am with your after-hours Slushie craving.
If you have any other clever ideas about the subject, let me know!
As the editor of 2itch.com, I get to find all the places across the nation that are open up way past my bedtime. I'm a wanderer by nature, so finding late night grub, coin-operated racquetball, and slushies in the middle of the night has been a lot of fun for me. And I'm sure there's a lot of other wanderers out there who would find this information useful... so enjoy and drop me a line when you find some cool 24 hour places of your own. Read more from this author
Hurricanes in the southeast, Fires in the southwest, Tornadoes in the center, and Snow to the north. I really would rather be the guy running away from natural disasters and not just running the store because there’s no lock! I say, Barricade the front door and run out the back door because back doors always have a lock!
hmm.. i forgot about Volcanos, Tsunami and Monsoons, because there’s 7-Elevens all over the world.
“I’m outta here ……..”
Interesting question!
I think in some of their locations are only open from 7am-11pm, so they may just use the same models for all their stores and just not bother with the locks. They could also be there for insurance purposes. Another, more probable solution is that they use the locks, like you said, for an emergency (i.e. power outage, flood) or other catastrophic events. Most likely a ‘better safe than sorry’ attitude. Better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them!
…or maybe they have locks on their doors just to give us something to ponder!
-Hanna
gumball-machine.com
I appreciate the last new entry.