A Southwest Florida couple is celebrating the grand opening this week of their sixth 7-Eleven franchise in Collier and Lee counties.
Bonita Springs residents Brian and Silvia Konkel initially had planned to curb their local holdings at five stores, but a sixth one in the Naples area just kind of fell into their laps after another area franchisee retired. His high-volume store in front of the Winn-Dixie supermarket at Collier Boulevard and Vanderbilt Beach Road is an opportunity they couldn’t pass up.
“It’s one of the busiest stores in the area—all of Florida, actually. He’s retiring and he and I have been good friends for a long time,” said Brian Konkel, 38, who was honored in the 2022 class of Gulfshore Business’ 40 Under 40. “I didn’t want any more stores, to be honest, but we’ve wanted this store because we knew what it did for so long. And he’s been killing it off one store. And we’re like, gosh, man, why do we have five stores and this guy’s murdering it off of one store. And then it finally came available.”
The Konkels know that the store’s potential on that successful corner remains high because of the area’s proposed development, especially the additional dwelling units planned and the extension of Vanderbilt Beach Road into Golden Gate Estates. Grand opening festivities at the new store will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14, at the store, 14267 Collier Blvd., across from St. Agnes Catholic Church.
“We’re going to have a DJ. We’re going to be giving away a bike and cornhole set, a lot of drink giveaways, tastings,” Konkel said. “A lot of vendors are going to be out there: Pepsi, Celsius, Coke, Red Bull, Suncoast distributor for beer. It’ll be a good time.”
The Konkels purchased their first 7-Eleven store more than 10 years ago. Their other 7-Eleven locations are in North Naples, Golden Gate and Lehigh Acres.
Regardless of what people might think, a gas station is not a gold mine. The 7-Eleven profit is actually a diverse operation.
“We don’t make much off gas. We make a penny and a half a gallon,” Konkel said, noting that franchisees earn commissions on a variety of services, such as car washes, lottery sales, the in-store ATM and even the air machine.
Franchisees have a graduated growth profit split, which means when they make more money, they pay a higher percentage to the 7-Eleven corporation. Although high gross profit items include food and non-alcoholic beverages, the majority of sales come from the sale of lower-margin items, such as beer and cigarettes.
“Take my Golden Gate store, for instance,” Konkel said. “That one is the number one store in the country out of 13,000-plus 7-Elevens for Corona and Modelo sales. In the whole country, we’re number one.”
