7-Eleven Heads to Harlem

NEW YORK — 7-Eleven Inc. is moving uptown to Harlem, a neighborhood in northern New York City.

The Dallas-based convenience store chain will open a location at 256 W. 116th St., the site of a former restaurant, according to the New York Daily News.

The new store is slated to open in the summer or fall of 2015, company spokeswoman Margaret Chabris told the newspaper.

"This is the first for Harlem," Chabris said, noting it is the retail chain's second uptown location.

There is a 7-Eleven store in Washington Heights, N.Y., on 178th Street and Broadway, and another on the Upper East Side on 96th Street and Second Avenue. The company has plans to open additional shops uptown, Chabris told the Daily News, but it's too early to say where.

The move to Harlem has drawn mixed reactions, according to DNAinfo.com. "It's good and it's bad," said resident Torino Washington. "They have a lot of the same things other delis have, but a little cheaper. On the other hand, some of the stores around here might be in trouble."

7-Eleven's New York City stores numbered 124 at the end of 2013, according to the Center for an Urban Future. In total, 7-Eleven Inc. operates, franchises or licenses more than 10,300 7-Eleven stores in North America.