7-Eleven Adds Custom Greeting Cards to Growing List of Services

BLACKSBURG, Va. — 7-Eleven Inc. has been busy lately adding non-traditional convenience store items and services to its offering, and the chain just added another.

According to WDBJ-TV, 7-Eleven added Card Isle kiosks to five of its stores in the Virginia cities of Blacksburg, Radford and Roanoke. Card Isle has been referred to as the “Redbox of greeting cards,” doing for greeting cards what Redbox has done for movie and game rentals. Soon, Card Isle customers can even order a card on a mobile device or home computer and pick it up at the closest kiosk.

The greeting cards showcase work from local Virginia artists. “Card Isle is a company that's on a mission to make sending a meaningful message simpler," David Henry, co-founder of Card Isle, told the news outlet.

Blacksburg-based Card Isle started as an idea at Virginia Tech University three years ago as an assignment to create a business. It turned into a project to redevelop the greeting card industry and evolved into a start-up business.

Regarding whether greeting card kiosks will be successful at 7-Eleven locations, Henry said: "We're testing whether or not the convenient store is a spot people are interested in picking up a card."

Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. operates, franchises and licenses more than 10,700 7-Eleven stores in North America.