Anecdata here, but I live in America and had no idea 7-11 gas stations even existed until reading this thread. To me it’s always only been a convenience store.
I live in a large city on the west coast, not particularly dense, though I feel like our definitions of “dense” may differ, to me dense evokes manhattan.
I’ve traveled through most of the western (ie west of the Rockies) United States and North east as well. It’s possible I’ve seen a 7-11 gas station and just don’t remember.
Thanks for sharing. I'm similarly in a city, similarly not super dense like Manhattan. But I'm East coast and most of my travels have been up and down this coast. I wonder if the difference is regional. Of course there's the good chance I'm just not very observant and pass by non-gas station 7-11s all the time.
In my experience, as Americans we tend to under appreciate the regional differences in the US, especially with chains that are familiar to us, so I think you’re probably correct.
Dunkin doughnuts vs Starbucks, Hardee’s vs Carl’s Jr., etc.