Lismore’s first 7-Eleven opens tomorrow (Thursday, 11 April) on the old Skimmos site on Union Street, South Lismore, with a team of 17 under the leadership of local Chantelle Keehn.

Ms Keehn will be supported by experienced 7-Eleven store manager Mark Halyday as she sets up the store and trains the new local team.

This investment is part of 7-Eleven’s focus on providing regional Australians access to career opportunities, and to the same choice and convenience that is available in metropolitan areas. That focus is expected to see the brand continue to grow in regional Australia in the next few years.

According to 7-Eleven Area Lead North, Jeff Yerbury, the store team is excited to welcome the community to their new store.

“People can grab their favourite products and fill up at any time 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We have food and convenience options including 7-Eleven’s handmade sandwiches, wraps and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, as well as 7-Eleven’s freshly ground Fairtrade Certified coffee, Slurpee including Slurpee No Sugar options and our frozen blended Smoothies, Frappes and Shakes,” Mr Yerbury said.

“Our Store Leader Chantelle and her team have been doing an amazing job working to get this store stocked and ready to welcome our customers on opening day.”

The store has been built to a bespoke design to suit the location of the store to provide additional safeguards against any future flooding events. In the event of a flood, the team members of the store will be trained to pull down metal shutters to protect the windows, in addition to the usual store shutdown steps, and evacuate safely in line with emergency services advice.

In addition to modern design fuel tank systems, the building has mechanisms that trigger to protect the site in the event of a flood. The features of this site are designed with increased flood resistance to help protect the store and the environment. 

According to Ms Keehn the team are excited to welcome locals to their new 7-Eleven, which will have fuel, food and convenience ranges, and deliveries of fresh food into the store seven days a week.  

The store offers high-quality Mobil fuels and has the My 7-Eleven App, including a fuel price lock feature.  

“My 7-Eleven App Fuel Price Lock feature allows our customers to search for the best price at the five closest 7-Eleven stores to their current location, and then to lock that price in to use at any 7-Eleven fuel store in Australia for the next seven days for a maximum saving of 25 cents per litre.

As a bonus, the app has loyalty rewards, offers, discounts and can be linked with your Velocity Frequent Flyer card to earn Points,” she said.

ASTRON

The Astron service station on Ballina Road, which was labelled United pre-flood, has also re-opened on Ballina Road with new leasees Mani and Sandaap Kaur.

Mani and Sandaap are new to the fuel industry, as they make a shift from farming blueberries in Dunoon and going into the retail sector.

"We were looking for something more secure because getting a loan and money for farm work is very hard.

Mani was the driver behind the reopening of Astron.

"He has always been interested in establishing his own business," Sandaap explained, "He is so ambitious."

As the site had been vacant for quite sometime, Mani lodged and enquiry and then step by step the reality of running a petrol station in Lismore started to become a reality.

While the fuel is up and running, the items in store is work in progress.

"We still have coffee and fruit and vegetables to come. We are growing them and we like to sell our own products."

(Sandaap behind the counter of the new Astron service station on Ballina Road)

"We have no experience with fuel, and we are still learning every day about new things."

The Weekend Wrap has reported that since they have been open, Astron has had the cheapest fuel in Lismore for the three types they sell. which is Unleaded 91, U98 and Diesel.

Now, Lismore waits for the 7-Eleven fuel prices tomorrow morning to be revealed.