When Angela Collins drives to work, she never knows if she’ll be able to get into her office’s parking lot on Iroquois Avenue. Cars waiting to purchase drinks at 7 Brew back up onto the street, she says.
“We get the finger. We get yelled at. We get profanities because we’re just trying to get in and out,” said Collins, who works at the Naperville Acupuncture Center. “That’s very stressful to come to work and say, ‘Oh, am I going to be able to get in today or not, or leave today or not?’”
Since opening in October 2024, the drive-thru-only franchise off Ogden Avenue has drawn customers from all over the Chicago area. Nearly half of all customers who visit the Naperville location travel anywhere between 10 to 30 miles for the coffee, according to Laura Karet, whose 7 Brew franchise territories are in the Chicago and Nashville markets.
As a result, the Naperville store — the first to open in the Chicago area — has seen lines back up onto Iroquois and wrap around towards Naperville-Wheaton Road.
“To be fair to 7 Brew, the traffic has abated somewhat,” said Frank Grill, owner of Naperville Acupuncture. “It’s still pretty bad on the weekends, and the other core time where it’s bad is when they run their specials.”
Grill said the last promotion on Aug. 7 was particularly chaotic: “I think there must have been 300 to 400 cars in line all day.”
Jennifer Louden, director of Naperville’s Transportation, Engineering and Development department, agreed, saying the biggest backups come during 7 Brew’s “Jackpot” promotions, held on the seventh day of each month. Following reports of heavy traffic on Aug. 7, the city reached an agreement with 7 Brew to end the promotion at the Naperville location starting in September.
“We’ll be watching, as well as the 7 Brew operators are going to be watching, closely on the seventh to see if that has the (intended) outcome,” Louden said.
The city and 7 Brew have taken other steps to quell the traffic as well. The city put up signage to alert customers not to block the driveway of neighboring properties and 7 Brew’s been encouraged to find nearby areas the company can use for off-site queuing, Louden said.
Doing their part to resolve the situation, 7 Brew has hired a full-time traffic coordinator to improve traffic flow, Karet said. Off-duty police officers have been hired on occasion to help control traffic, especially during the the store’s special promotion days, Naperville police Cmdr. Rick Krakow said.
“I think it’s fair to say that 7 Brew has been far more popular than the city, or even 7 Brew itself, thought it was going to be, somewhat due to the novelty of it being one of the few in the area,” Louden said.
Before the coffee chain built its store, the property had been occupied by a bank with a drive-thru setup identitical to the one used by 7 Brew, according to a city staff report. Because the site was already zoned for commercial use, it didn’t require any additional city review, city spokeswoman Linda LaCloche said.
In addition to the business’ novelty appeal, there are a few reasons the store’s been so popular, Karet said.
“The first thing is, it’s a really fun place to be. We have team members that love working there, who love talking to people,” Karet said. “You’re never, as a customer, interacting with the screen. You’re 100% of the time talking to a person who is nice and fun and knows the product and is helpful.”
With 20,000 possible customizable drink options, 7 Brew creates an environment that is attractive to a wide audience, especially a younger demographic, she said.
“What’s interesting is they love to post about it, particularly on TikTok,” Karet said. “And then other people come and they say, ‘I want that concoction that that person made.’”
Grill has noticed the same thing. “Sometimes they immediately get their coffee and they’re doing Instagram selfies or TikTok reviews. They’re not tuned into the traffic around them as much as they are to their social media,” he said.
Karet said she believes the best solution is more locations. A 7 Brew opened in Mokena in August and another opens in Lockport later this month. She’s exploring the possibility of a second Naperville site, Karet said.
“Our whole brand is about cultivating kindness, and we do not want to create situations where our neighbors feel like there are issues,” she said. “We strongly believe that … if we have more stores in the area, we will siphon off some of the traffic.”
cstein@chicagotribune.com