People stop at 7-Elevens for drinks, snacks, and maybe a bathroom break. An Olympic Valley, California 7-Eleven had a visitor come in for a late-night snack, but it wasn't a person and had a particularly big appetite. On September 6, a video shows a brown bear strolling into the convenience store by Lake Tahoe and making his way over to the candy shelves. Christopher Kinson, a cashier for the store, was working that evening and shared his interaction with the bear with ZMG-Buzz60, according to SWNS, who posted the video to their YouTube account.
The video shows Kinson trying to get the bear to leave as he is eating candy bars straight out of a packing crate. The bear seems unbothered by Kinson's presence and his repeated calls for the bear to leave. Finally, Kinson tells him he has had enough to eat and it is time for him to leave. The bear responds as expected: by taking another bite.
Kinson finally gets the bear to leave, but it quickly changes its mind and comes back in the door, grabbing a few more snacks. Kinson tells him to leave once again. The bear turns to go, decides to grab a few more candy bars, and heads out. At this point it became a bit of a game. Kinson tries to put an end to it and locks the door, but the bear doesn't take too kindly and tries to push on it. Kinson lodges a broom into the door handle for a little extra support. Even that barely slows the bear down, but the video ends shortly after.
While Kinson was shocked and a little scared at first, bears are certainly common in the Lake Tahoe area. They come through campgrounds, are known to break into houses, and in fact, this isn't the first time a bear has come into this particular 7-Eleven. Another bruin came into the store in November 2021. Employee Rachelle Ducusin took a video of that visit and posted it to TikTok. Unfortunately, that bear didn't go so peacefully and was shot with rubber bullets by emergency personnel so it would leave.
Thankfully for Kinson, his bear left eventually on its own. I have a feeling this won't be the last time he visits the store.
