It's another year of Slurpee-sucking supremacy for Winnipeg, which has been named Slurpee Capital of the World for the ninth year running -- despite competing claims from a feisty American competitor.
Winnipeg's official status will be announced Friday, July 11, the official "7/11" day when the stores offer free Slurpees to customers.
Natalia and Nikolai Harochaw, enjoy a Slurpee Wednesday night in the city.
But the city's Slurpee victory was briefly thrown into question Wednesday by claims the city of Kennewick, Wash., was the real Slurpee capital.
"Our theme is 'move over Manitoba, Kennewick is king'," boasted Don Mariotto, who runs the only 7-Eleven in the city of 40,000.
7-Eleven referred to Kennewick as the "new Slurpee capital of the world" in a press release last week, and since then Mariotto said his phone has been ringing non-stop from curious media and some peevish Manitobans.
He said he's spent 18 months heavily promoting Slurpees in Kennewick as well as two nearby cities, with a flurry of "buy one, get one free" deals, TV appearances, and t-shirt giveaways.
"So now we're No. 1 in the world," he said.
Not so fast, according to 7-Eleven Canada spokeswoman Sheila Calder: the title of world capital goes to the city that sells the highest number of Slurpee cups per store, while Kennewick's 7-Eleven was measuring victory by sales dollars, she said.
"It's kind of comparing apples and oranges," said Calder.
Margaret Chabris, a spokeswoman for 7-Eleven in the United States, pointed out the Kennewick store had higher June dollar sales than any store in North America -- but the top four stores that sell the most Slurpees are all in Winnipeg.
To confuse things further, the Slurpee capital of the U.S. is actually Detroit, she said.
Although Kennewick reportedly topped sales in recent months, the 2008 title is based on 2007 numbers.
Still, Chabris said Kennewick has "laid down the gauntlet," and hopes Winnipeg is ready for the challenge.
"Winnipeggers are going to have to start slurping up to keep that title for the 10th year," said Calder.
lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca
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