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7-Eleven's Early Pumpkin Spice Slurpee Release Is A Total Disappointment

Column: industry Tag: Pumpkin Spice Slurpee,Seasonal Beverage,Autumn Beverage Market Trends Published: 2024-08-09 14:40 Source: www.mashed.com Author: CHRISTINE DULION

7-Eleven

Look, we love fall as much as the next person, but August 1 is just way too early for pumpkin spice. It's like hearing Mariah Carey's Christmas music playing at the store before you've even bought a Thanksgiving turkey. However, 7-Eleven doesn't agree. The convenience store chain announced in an August 1 press release that a new pumpkin spice Slurpee is now available. The caveat? Unless you happen to live near five very specific locations, you can't get it.

7-Eleven's senior vice president of merchandising, Dennis Phelps, said in the announcement, "7-Eleven customers are huge pumpkin spice fans, so we're always looking for reasons to bring out the pumpkins a bit early and delight customers with new creations." Well, it's certainly a new take. Although we know a lot of interesting facts about 7-Eleven's famous Slurpee, this is the first pumpkin spice version we've seen.

We'll chalk this all up to a marketing stunt. 7-Eleven most likely wants to get the word out before, assumedly, rolling out the new Slurpee flavor nationwide later this month (that's pure speculation). But if the company is going to release it early, we say: Just go ahead and do it everywhere!

7-Eleven is offering other pumpkin drinks nationwide

This isn't the first time companies have launched pumpkin spice season early. In fact, 7-Eleven has announced fan-favorite fall flavors as early as springtime before (with salted caramel in April 2022). But one draw to autumn and all of its cozy trappings is the cooling weather.

Considering the temperature (at the time of writing) in LA and Enon, Ohio, is above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's over 90 degrees Fahrenheit in Irving, Texas, and New York City — the locations chosen for the limited release — it's not exactly what you'd call "cozy" outside. (These four locations add up to five, because there are two stores participating in LA.) That may be why 7-Eleven has gone with a frozen version of the beloved fall flavor. Temperatures aside, though, the chain also already made three other pumpkin-infused products available everywhere, including a coffee, a cold brew, and a latte. So, why not do the same for the Slurpee?

We'll admit, a frozen Slurpee swirl of cinnamon and pumpkin spice sounds pretty good — or, at least, interesting. But only people in a few areas can get their hands on it right now, so we can't say for sure whether it's tasty or not. With the company running more than 13,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada, five stores is an incredibly small launch. Maybe it's just FOMO, but why tease us?

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