Kwik-E-Mart - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

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The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie... business

Kwik-E-Mart
Business type	Convenience store Convenience store A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...
Location	Springfield Springfield (The Simpsons) Springfield is the fictional town in which the American animated sitcom The Simpsons is set. A mid-sized town in an undetermined state of the United States, Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. The geography of the town and its...
Owner	Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Apu Nahasapeemapetilon Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Apu is the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and a friend of Homer Simpson. He is also...
Employee(s)	Apu and Sanjay Nahasapeemapetilon
First appearance	"The Telltale Head The Telltale Head "The Telltale Head" is the eighth episode of The Simpsons first season, and it originally aired February 25, 1990. It was written by Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon, Matt Groening, and directed by Rich Moore. In the episode, Bart cuts the head off the statue of Jebediah Springfield in the center of... " (The Simpsons The Simpsons The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie... )

The Kwik-E-Mart is a fictional chain of convenience store

Convenience store

A convenience store, corner store, corner shop, commonly called a bodega in Spanish-speaking areas of the United States, is a small store or shop in a built up area that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, toiletries, alcoholic and soft drinks, and may also offer money order and...

s in the animated television series The Simpsons

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...

. It is a parody of American convenience store chains, such as 7-Eleven

7-Eleven

7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...

and Circle K

Circle K

Circle K is an international chain of convenience stores, founded in 1951, in El Paso, Texas, United States. It is owned and operated by the Canadian-based Alimentation Couche-Tard.-Overview:...

, and represents many myths and stereotypes of them. It is notorious for its high prices and the poor quality of its merchandise. The operator of the Springfield store is an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n named Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon is a character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Hank Azaria and first appeared in the episode "The Telltale Head". Apu is the proprietor of the Kwik-E-Mart, a popular convenience store in Springfield, and a friend of Homer Simpson. He is also...

. It was first seen in the episode "The Telltale Head

The Telltale Head

"The Telltale Head" is the eighth episode of The Simpsons first season, and it originally aired February 25, 1990. It was written by Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon, Matt Groening, and directed by Rich Moore. In the episode, Bart cuts the head off the statue of Jebediah Springfield in the center of...

" and has since become a common setting in The Simpsons.

In July 2007, eleven 7-Eleven

7-Eleven

7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...

locations in the United States and one in Canada were transformed into Kwik-E-Marts as part of a special promotion for The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie is a 2007 American animated comedy film based on the animated television series The Simpsons. The film was directed by David Silverman, and stars the regular television cast of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, Harry Shearer, Tress...

. For a limited time, 7-Elevens across North America also sold various Simpsons products, such as "Squishees", "Buzz Cola" and "Krusty-Os cereal". Also in 2007, gift shops modeled after the "Kwik-E-Marts" were opened in Universal Studios Florida

Universal Studios Florida

Universal Studios Florida is an American theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Opened on June 7, 1990, the park's theme is the entertainment industry, in particular movies and television. Universal Studios Florida inspires its guests to "ride the movies," and it features numerous attractions and...

and Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood is a movie studio and theme park in the unincorporated Universal City community of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood movie studios still in use...

, where they are a companion to "The Simpsons Ride

The Simpsons Ride

The Simpsons Ride is a simulator ride featured at the Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood theme parks. The ride is based on the animated television series The Simpsons. It was first announced in 2007 and replaced the Back to the Future: The Ride at both locations...

Role in The Simpsons

The Kwik-E-Mart is a convenience store that sells the usual fare at extraordinarily high prices, including the always popular Squishee. The Kwik-E-Mart chain was started somewhere in the Himalaya, where the world's first convenience store still stands on a mountain peak, an ironically inconvenient location. Visiting pilgrims are allowed to ask three questions of the resident all-knowing guru.

Springfield's Kwik-E-Mart is owned and operated by an Indian American

Indian American

Indian Americans are Americans whose ancestral roots lie in India. The U.S. Census Bureau popularized the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Indigenous peoples of the Americas who are commonly referred to as American Indians.-The term: Indian:...

named Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

Apu Nahasapeemapetilon

, who mans the store with his brother Sanjay and is a caricature of the stereotypical "foreign born" convenience store clerk. Apu is an extremely devoted convenience store clerk/owner, rarely closing his store and occasionally working 96 hour shifts. He quite often ignores his wife Manjula and their eight children so that he can be at the store as much as possible and is usually very hesitant to leave his brother in charge. Apu is quite proud of his work, and proudly gouges customers and sells tainted merchandise, such as rotten meat or expired milk. The Kwik-E-Mart standard procedure is to cover up tainted merchandise but if one is caught, they must blame a scapegoat. However, Apu once didn't follow that rule. In "Homer and Apu

Homer and Apu

"Homer and Apu" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons fifth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on February 10, 1994. In the episode, Homer participates in a hidden camera investigation of the expired meat selling at the Kwik-E-Mart. Apu is immediately fired and...

", he was caught selling rancid food to regular customer Homer Simpson

Homer Simpson

Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons and the patriarch of the eponymous family. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared on television, along with the rest of his family, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987...

by the investigative news program "Bite Back with Kent Brockman

Kent Brockman

Kent Brockman is a fictional character in the animated television series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Harry Shearer and first appeared in the episode "Krusty Gets Busted"...

". As a result, he was fired and was replaced by James Woods

James Woods

James Howard Woods is an American film, stage and television actor. Woods is known for starring in critically acclaimed films such as Once Upon a Time in America, Salvador, Nixon, Ghosts of Mississippi, Casino, and in the television legal drama Shark. He has won three Emmy Awards, and has gained...

, who was studying to be a convenience store clerk for a role in an upcoming movie. Apu was re-hired a short time later, after he foiled a robbery attempt at the Kwik-E-Mart and saved James Woods' life. Springfield's Kwik-E-Mart is quite often the target of robbers, leading to Apu having been shot on several occasions. It is a favorite target of local criminal Snake Jailbird, who has held up the Kwik-E-Mart several times. The Kwik-E-Mart does not accept checks from Chief Wiggum, Reverend Lovejoy and Homer Simpson

Homer Simpson

, as shown in "Homer and Apu

Homer and Apu

7-Eleven promotion

In July 2007, convenience store chain 7-Eleven

7-Eleven

7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...

converted 11 of its stores in the United States and one in Canada into Kwik-E-Marts to celebrate the release of The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie

. The concept was first visualized in 2006 by Fox's advertising agency, and the approximately 10 million dollar (US) cost of the promotion were shouldered by 7-Eleven. Another part of the promotion was a contest where customers who purchased a slurpee or sandwich also received a coded game piece that could be entered into a website. The grand prize of the contest was to be animated into an episode of The Simpsons. Prior to July, the promotion had long been known but the locations were kept a secret until the morning of July 1, when the 12 stores were made over with industrial foam, vinyl and actual Kwik-E-Mart signs. The locations of the renovated Kwik-E-Marts were: Bladensburg, Maryland

Bladensburg, Maryland

Bladensburg is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 7,661 at the 2000 census.Bladensburg is from central Washington, DC...

/Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

; Burbank, California

Burbank, California

Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....

; Chicago, Illinois

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

; Dallas, Texas; Denver, Colorado; Henderson

Henderson, Nevada

-Demographics:According to the 2000 census, there were 175,381 people, 66,331 households, and 47,095 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,200.8 people per square mile . There were 71,149 housing units at an average density of 892.8 per square mile...

/Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

; Los Angeles, California

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

; Mountain View

Mountain View, California

-Downtown:Mountain View has a pedestrian-friendly downtown centered on Castro Street. The downtown area consists of the seven blocks of Castro Street from the Downtown Mountain View Station transit center in the north to the intersection with El Camino Real in the south...

/San Francisco, California; New York, New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

; Orlando

Orlando, Florida

Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

/Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Lake Buena Vista is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being home to the Walt Disney World Resort. It is one of two Florida municipalities controlled by The Walt Disney Company, the other being Bay Lake....

; Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

and Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.

These 12 locations, as well as the majority of other North American 7-Elevens, sold products found in The Simpsons, such as "Buzz Cola", "Krusty-O's", "Squishees", pink frosted "Sprinklicious doughnuts" and other Simpsons-themed merchandise. The Squishees were Slurpees that are sold in special collector cups and the Krusty-O's were made by Malt-O-Meal

Malt-O-Meal

The Malt-O-Meal Company is a privately owned American corporation that produces breakfast cereals. Its corporate headquarters are in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It employs 1,400 people and had estimated sales in 2008 of $548 million.-History:...

. Several other 7-Eleven items, such as sandwiches, were sold in Simpsons-themed packaging. Another item is "Radioactive Man Comic Book Edition #711", a special edition of the Radioactive Man series made by Bongo Comics

Bongo Comics

Bongo Comics Group is a comic book publishing company founded in 1993 by Steve and Cindy Vance, Bill Morrison, and Simpsons and Futurama creator Matt Groening. It publishes comics related to the animated television series The Simpsons and Futurama, along with original material...

. It was decided that Duff Beer

Duff Beer (The Simpsons)

Duff Beer is a fictional brand of beer in the animated series The Simpsons. It is Homer Simpson's beer of choice. It is a parody of stereotypical commercial beer: very cheaply priced, poor-quality, and advertised everywhere...

would not be sold due to the movie being rated PG-13, and the promoters wanted to have "good, responsible fun," though it was noted that it was a tough decision. However, a Duff Energy Drink was released in place of the Duff Beer.

The promotion resulted in a 30% increase in profits for the changed 7-Eleven stores. Many of the stores sold out of their special Simpsons products within a few days of the start of the promotion. The conversions lasted through early August, when the stores were converted back to 7-Elevens.

There was a mild controversy when the promotion offended members of the Indian-American community who felt that Apu is a caricature that plays on too many negative stereotypes. Despite this, 7-Eleven reported that many of its Indian employees have reacted positively to the idea, although it was noted that it was "not a 100 percent endorsement."

Universal Studios

On October 17, 2007, a gift shop that was modeled after a Kwik-E-Mart was opened at Universal Studios Florida

Universal Studios Florida

. One also opened at Universal Studios Hollywood

Universal Studios Hollywood

at a later time. They replaced the old Back to the Future

Back to the Future

Back to the Future is a 1985 American science-fiction adventure film. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, produced by Steven Spielberg, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. The film tells the story of...

gift shop and supplement The Simpsons Ride

The Simpsons Ride

, which opened in Spring, 2008. The stores sell Simpsons-related merchandise and Squishees, like Flaming Moe's Energy Drink

Energy drink

Energy drinks are beverages whose producers advertise that they "boost energy." These advertisements usually do not emphasize energy derived from the sugar and caffeine they contain but rather increased energy release due to a variety of stimulants and vitamins....

External links

Apu's profile at TheSimpsons.com

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