Fifteen months of construction and seemingly endless roadworks came to fruition on Thursday with Gympie’s first 7-Eleven opening to an enthusiastic community response. Watch the video:
Fifteen months of construction and seemingly endless roadworks have finally come to fruition with Gympie’s newest service station throwing its doors open to customers to an amazing response.
The Southside centre, on Exhibition Rd opposite the Jockey Club Hotel, was officially opened by store management and regional politicians at a ceremony on Thursday morning.
It was met with open arms by consumers, with more than 400 customers passing through the doors in the first four hours.
Unsurprisingly, the company’s Krispy Kreme doughnuts and Slurpees were hot ticket items.
“A young little girl walked out with her mum, hand-in-hand, and she got to the car and said ‘well that was certainly worth the wait’,” 7-Eleven area leader Jeff Yerbury said.
“This is the best part of my job, coming to these openings and talking to customers and seeing the joy they have.”
Store manager Joanne Hodgson said four other schoolchildren dropped by the store on Wednesday only to find it was not yet open.
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Mayor Glen Hartwig, 7-Eleven area manager Jeff Yerbury, store manager Joanne Hodgson, and LNP MP Tony Perrett untie the ribbons to celebrate the opening of Gympie’s first 7-Eleven store.
They did not go away disappointed though, Ms Hodgson said.
“Our builder said ‘can I give them Slurpees?’”
“It was fabulous. They were so excited.”
The service station, which employs 16 staff, will now be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
“It’s a wonderful thing for Gympie, it’s a wonderful thing for 7-Eleven.
“Behind the scenes there’s a lot that no-one sees.
“It’s a huge effort and there’s a lot of people who should be very proud of what they’ve done,” Ms Hodgson said.
More than 400 customers passed through the doors of Gympie’s 7-Eleven in the first four hours of its operations.
The store fills a clear gap in the market for the company, with the next closest 7-Eleven stores at Maryborough (87km north), Noosa (55km southeast) and Woombye (76km south).
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Construction work on the centre started about February 2022, and Mr Yerbury said the 15-month build was no small feat.
The block had previously been home to the single storey timber Southside Store which had its own petrol bowsers out the front.
“(Construction was) so complex, we’ve turned all the soil, ripped everything up, demolished the whole existing site, all the (petrol) tanks came out, new tanks went … (there were) a lot of complicated roadworks,” Mr Yerbury said.
“Even up to last night, the guys were sweating it as to whether we were going to open on time.”