7-Eleven crowd gathers in search of elusive solar shades

With a fountain drink by his hand and a camp chair, Colyn Vedder was prepared when he arrived Friday morning at Richland’s 7-Eleven.

The 9-year-old and his father showed up at 10:30 a.m. for a chance to snag one of 60 pairs of eclipse viewing glasses.

The convenience store hoped to sell the $8 shades at it’s annual Bring Your Own Cup Day. On Friday and Saturday, you can fill any size cup with Slurpee for $1.50.

One problem: the hard-to-find glasses were a no show.

Franchisee owner Hanif Chohan ordered them online a week ago but by 1 p.m. there still wasn’t any sign of the FedEx delivery truck.

That left Colyn, his dad, Frank, and about 50 others standing in a line snaking through the parking lot at the corner of Van Giesen Street and Jadwin Avenue.

With clear skies predicted when the moon moves between the Earth and the Sun on Monday morning, people had scooped up thousands of viewing shades by earlier in the week.

Reports came out Thursday night that 7-Eleven stores in Kennewick and Richland were getting more. The Kennewick store sold out immediately, said people in line.

“I happened to see some at Fred Meyer on Tuesday when I was there,” Troy Ellis said as he waited. “I thought about buying some and then just thought, ‘Whatever.’ I didn’t realize there would be a total run on the place.”

He was out for a walk around noon when he noticed the line and joined it.

Chohan said he was still trying to track down his package.

“I’m enjoying the moment,” he said. “I’m giving everyone who is waiting a free drink.”

People can grab a glimpse of the eclipse at any of a number of the public eclipse viewing events on Monday.

This story was originally published August 18, 2017 at 7:08 PM with the headline "7-Eleven crowd gathers in search of elusive solar shades."