It is impossible to visit Thailand and not enter a 7-11 store. According to a credible internet source (Wikipedia) there were more than 6,300 stores in Thailand last year and that number is quickly expanding.
There are at least ten in the city I live in and there is one located at the entrance to the building where I live. I pass by the 7-11 maybe seven or eight times a day.
7-11 stores are always cool with their air conditioning blasting and there is nearly always a dog sleeping at the entrance to the store. It is funny when the dog decides the entrance is not cool enough and sleep inside instead.
When 7-11 introduce a scheme whereby you collect stamps for certain purchases it became a very successful promotion. My girlfriend Prang became almost obsessed with collecting the stamps to redeem for prizes. She asked her students and friends to collect the tokens for her.
The promotion was so successful that all the products you can buy to collect tokens were sold out.
Prang has already collected enough tokens for a backpack, a chair, a small lunchbox and we need only fifty more tokens for a small table to collect the full set of prizes.
Our new 'free' chair from 7-11.