America’s #1 Store Is Nowhere To Be Found in Minnesota

It's been called the most store in the entire country, yet you won’t find a single one of its locations in Minnesota. That's right, despite recently being crowned the nation’s favorite grocery store, this popular brand has completely bailed on the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Whether it’s our cold weather, or perhaps an ancient curse involving a misplaced coupon, but whatever the reason, the North Star State remains in exile for this well-known convenience store chain that was, strangely, just named the most popular grocery store in the country.

Minnesota Is Left Out of America’s Favorite Grocery Chain

Now, there are a LOT of grocery stores spread across the Gopher State these days. The Minnesota Grocers Association (MGA) defines a 'grocery store' as a store that sells 'a line of dry grocery, canned goods, some perishable items, as well as some non-food items.' It also says there are currently over 38,000 of these stores in the U.S.

SEE ALSO: This MN Apple Orchard Was Named One of the 10 Best in the US

Closer to home, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture notes that there are over 8,000 licensed retail food establishments currently in operation across the North Star State. But none of those over 8,000 stores is the most popular grocery store in the country.

That's the word from this new Food & Wine story, anyway. It references a survey done by YouGov, a market research and analytics firm that ranked the favorite grocery stores in the nation. And the results are a little surprising, if you ask me.

The Bold North Has None of the Nation’s Top Convenience Stores

To come to its conclusion, Food & Wine said YouGov researchers interviewed 1,220 people in the U.S. over the months of October, November, and December of 2024. And after breaking down all the responses, it named... 7-Eleven as America's favorite grocery store for all adults.

Now, while using the MGA definition, it would appear that 7-Eleven convenience stores *could* be considered grocery stores, but I'm guessing not many Minnesotans would agree with that assessment, right?

When you say 'grocery store' here in Minnesota, you think of names like Cub, Hyvee, Lunds & Byerlys, Trader Joe's, Aldi, and Fareway, right? But 7-Eleven would seem to be more of a convenience store than a grocery store, much like Wisconsin-based Kwik Trip or Iowa-based Casey's, which we also consider convenience stores.

ALSO INTERESTING: This Minnesota City Has The Most Kwik Trip Locations in the Entire State

According to data from ScrapeHero, 7-Eleven currently operates 9,223 stores across 38 U.S. states and territories. The U.S. state that claims the largest number of 7-Eleven locations is California, with a total of 1,889 stores-- about 20 percent of all 7-Eleven stores in the country.

Get our free mobile app

7-Eleven is also in the news right now as it is holding its 'Bring Your Own Cup (BYOC) Day' promotion. According to 7-Eleven, the event is set for Saturday, September 13, and works like this:  'Customers are invited to bring their fishbowls, flower vases, pitchers, popcorn buckets and other fun containers to fill up with any flavor of Slurpee drink for only $1.99,' a release said.

Why This Popular Store Completely Skipped Over Minnesota

But whether you consider it a convenience store or a grocery store, here's the thing: There aren't currently any 7-Eleven locations at all here in Minnesota. It's true. When you hit up the location finder on the 7-Eleven website and search for locations in the Bold North, here are the results:

It's not just Minnesota that is now a 7-Eleven desert, however. ScrapeHero notes that 7-Eleven also currently has no locations in the following 11 states:

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arkansas
• Hawaii
• Iowa
• Mississippi
• Montana
• Nebraska
• North Dakota
• South Dakota
• Wyoming

That wasn't always the case, however, as there used to be several 7-Eleven locations in Minnesota, especially in the Twin Cities, as this 2020 TCB story noted. That same story said that the Speedway Gas and Convenience Store chain had then just been purchased by 7-Eleven and that it was likely the familiar 7-Eleven brand would reappear across the Gopher State.

But that appears to have *not* been the case, because while there currently aren't any 7-Eleven locations in Minnesota, the location-finder on the Speedway website says there are still 10 of its stores here in our fair state.

So while there aren't any 7-Elevens, there *are* other well-known grocery chains with locations across all of Minnesota, some of which have been called the Most Popular in the entire country. Keep scrolling to see which stores made the list!

Listen to Curt St. John & Samm Adams
Weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m. on Quick Country 96.5