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Mountain View has been best known as the home of the Googleplex and Shoreline Amphitheater, but from now until the end of July it has a far more prominent role as the home of the Bay Area's only Kwik-E-Mart.

Convenience store giant 7-Eleven, in a promotional tie-in with "The Simpsons Movie" being released July 27, has transformed 11 of the company's stores, including the Pear Avenue store in Mountain View, into replicas of Homer Simpson's favorite retailer complete with cans of Buzz Cola, boxes of KrustyO's cereal, copies of the "Radioactive Man" comic book and, of course, Squishees on sale.

"The KrustyO's and Buzz Cola have just been flying out of the stores," 7-Eleven spokeswoman Margaret Chabris said.

The transformed stores have no vestige of the 7-Eleven brand with the exterior walls, roof, signage, uniforms and name tags, products and packaging, bakery cases and grills, in-store signage, cash registers and ATM machines and even the donation canisters on the counter undergoing a Simpson-esque makeover. The transformed Kwik-E-Marts also feature life-sized cardboard cutouts of major Simpsons characters, according to Chabris.

Fans of the television show should look for details such as Jasper in the bagged ice freezer, the First Bank of Springfield automated teller machine, and a Krusty's Kids donation canister.

The Simpsons' products, including the iconic Simpsons' donut with pink icing and sprinkles, will be on sale not only at the Kwik-E-Mart but at all 7-Eleven stores throughout the month.

Mountain View is the only Northern California Kwik-E-Mart. Southern California has one each in Los Angeles and Burbank. The other locations are Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Orlando, Las Vegas, New York City, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

While the promotion, which began Sunday, has been extremely popular, there are no plans to transform more Bay Area 7-Eleven stores into Kwik-E-Marts, according to Chabris.

"We kind of like the number 11," Chabris said.

— Bay City News Service

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