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The Kwik-E-Mart
Address: Landsdowne Dr. & Guilford Way, Coquitlam (map)

Life Imitating Art Imitating Life
a news feature

By Jason Chin
Eat Vancouver writer
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007

To promote the upcoming Simpsons movie, several 7-11s in the U.S. have been transformed into Kwik-E-Marts, the fictional convenience stores from the Simpsons universe. I was happy to hear that the one Kwik-E-Mart in Canada is nearby in Coquitlam. Needless to say, I roadtripped to Coquiltlam today.

Although it’s hard to forget that this is all just a marketing stunt to promote a movie (and a convenience store), I have to admit it was pretty damn cool to visit the convenience store from perhaps the most iconic television show of the past two decades. The store was dressed up like a Kwik-E-Mart, clerks were dressed up in the requisite garb and cut-outs of most of the familiar characters were present. I enjoyed a squishie ($2), which was pretty much just a slurpee in a souvenir cup, and picked up a 6-pack of Buzz Cola ($3.99). When I first arrived around 3pm the store was absolutely packed, with the line wrapped around the cashier station, but later they decided to limit the number of people in the store and have customers line up outside. I was sad to see that unlike other stores, no Krusty-Os were available. Still, it was fun browsing the store, stumbling upon various Simpsons references and losing myself in this world for a few minutes.

Photos after the jump.