1496 Carrizo Gorge Road, Jacumba Hot Springs CA 91934
“This Chevron out in Jacumba Hot Springs might honestly be one of the most memorable gas stations anywhere in Southern California. The reason is pretty obvious the second you pull in. There’s a full Bell UH-1 Huey helicopter mounted right above the gas pumps, and it completely changes the feel of the place from “desert gas station” to “wait…what is happening here?” As the author of The Grant Colson Thriller Series, I’m always noticing unusual roadside locations during long drives, and this is exactly the kind of weird memorable stop that sticks in your brain years later. The gas station itself is solid, the convenience store has everything you’d want for a desert stop, and honestly it’s a good place to break up the drive through Jacumba. But the helicopter is what makes people remember the place. Something about seeing a Vietnam-era military helicopter sitting above fuel pumps in the middle of the desert gives the whole location this strange cinematic atmosphere. It almost feels like the opening location to some forgotten 1980s action movie. I always end up stopping here whenever I’m driving through the area because places like this are getting rarer and rarer. Funny enough, oddball roadside locations exactly like this are probably why strange travel stops and desert staging points keep showing up later in both The Grant Colson Thriller Series and SERA Archives stories. Really fun desert roadside stop and easily one of the coolest gas stations around Jacumba Hot Springs.”
The Iowa retailer, the third-largest convenience store operator in the country, built its new three-year plan around three priorities: store growth, food and beverage expansion, and kitchen technology upgrades. The company plans to add 120 stores during the current fiscal year. Its previous plan, launched in 2023, delivered more than 500 new stores and earned the company a spot in the S&P 500.
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Read the post7-Eleven is going big on food and "frictionless shopping." The convenience store giant plans to open 500 new "food-forward" locations across the U.S. from 2025 to 2027. The expansion builds on 7-Eleven's "Evolution" store concept, first launched in Dallas in 2019. These larger-format stores feature in-store restaurants, premium products like craft beer and cigars, and an emphasis on fresh, grab-and-go meals.
Read the postAmazon has quietly opened a new type of grocery store in downtown Chicago. Called Amazon Grocery, the 3,800-square-foot store is a testing ground for Amazon's latest experiment in brick-and-mortar retail. The first Amazon Grocery location shares a building with a Whole Foods Market, which Amazon purchased in 2017.
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