The Simpsons Movie has been a financial windfall for owners of the 7-Eleven stores that were transformed into Kwik-E-Marts as part of the film's promotional campaign. Simpsons fans have swarmed the dozen stores for the past month, picking up everything from Krusty O's cereal to Buzz Cola to iced Squishees.

Swarn Sahni, owner of one of the two converted stores in the Los Angeles area, says that business has increased 300 percent since Kwik-E-Mart signage went up on June 30th. Sahni told the Los Angeles Times, "I usually sell 800 hot dogs a week. Now I'm selling about 3,000 a week."

Simpsons-themed sundries are available at normal 7-Elevens too, but they aren't generating the same buzz as the Kwik-E-Marts. Sahni's Burbank, California store, for instance, sold 57,510 "Sprinklicious" doughnuts this month.

Kwik-E-Mart signage and decorations will be removed at the end of the month.

As for The Simpsons Movie, that opens Friday (July 27th) in theaters across the country. Producer James L. Brooks said the movie has the same heart as the TV show, only with a bigger storyline: "It's still our characters, it's still our style, which is very important to us. And we still work very hard to be funny but there's a story that we believe in, that I think is very involving. There's a great amount of emotion in it. I think for a picture that really works so hard to be funny and has all kinds of physical comedy, it still has a great heart and a great family story at the center of it."



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