7-Eleven Remains Closed Under Nebulous Health Order

Since early August, the 7-Eleven at the corner of O and Wisconsin has been closed by order of the Department of Health. However it is completely unclear what the violation was nor whether the store is attempting to remedy it.

When GM inquired with the Department of Health for information about the closure, he was directed to the agency’s online record database. But when he searched for the order, none came up. There are plenty of orders relating to 7-Elevens around the city, but none are for this particular location. So GM can’t say what the actual violation was, nor any records that indicate that 7-Eleven is trying to fix it.

Browsing records for other stores, it looks like common violations include things like not keeping warming trays warm enough, or refrigerators cold enough. For instance, at their location at 1315 2nd St. NE, they were cited in November of last year for failing to, among other things, “have proper eating, tasting, drinking or tabacco use”, “receive food at proper temperature”, and “wash fruits or vegetables”. That location continued to display some bad behavior during the agency’s follow up inspection three weeks later. But ultimately no further action appears to have been taken.

So it’s a bit of a mystery how the Georgetown location was so bad that it was actually shut down and has remained so for months. And yet no records of any violations or inspections show up.

This 7-Eleven has been here since 2014 and it has a lease until 2023. The building was purchased in 2015 to a local investor. It had been owned by the same family since 1928 prior to the sale. The building famously housed Doc Dalinksy’s pharmacy for 48 years until it closed in the early 80s.