You will very likely know immediately what this used to be:

And this (less changed):

And this (I wasn’t positive because the dimensions are not standard, but I was able to confirm):

That addition on the left is not standard, as these are usually completely freestanding buildings, at least in suburban locations. But not always! Take a look at this one, which is still what these once were (and is, I think, a slightly newer revision of this standard building):

Yep: 7-Eleven, which is everywhere, and which has looked more or the less the same for decades. Nonetheless, some stores close or move, and so in older suburban landscapes you’ll sometimes come across these used-to-be-a-7-Elevens. Here’s a fun, heavily illustrated article about the chain’s history.

They’re not terribly interesting, really, because they’re basically just shoeboxes with a very simple branding/ornamentation. But that makes them very adaptable. The longest-lived buildings in suburbia are not civic monuments but simple workhorse commercial structures that have no problem being unassuming stores, restaurants, dry-cleaners, or tag-and-title or tax-prep shops.

And given the number of regional chains with distinct model buildings, suburbs in different states or regions will have their own collection of “used-to-be-a-…” buildings unique to those places.

As you know, this is what I find interesting—not so much the buildings themselves, in most cases, but their lives, much longer and varied than their origins would suggest.

Related Reading:

Kinney Shoes’ Architectural Afterlife

Mail Day

Turkey Hill Hunting

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