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There is a price for convenience, but patrons of convenience stores may sometimes be surprised to discover that the price is not as high as they had assumed it would be.

Convenience stores today are not the convenience stores of the past. While convenience stores of the past often had relatively little traffic and extremely high prices on products that sometimes had dust on them, today's convenience stores are often high-traffic stores with daily deliveries and, apparently, the understanding that dust doesn't move products.

Convenience stores, often known for the cigarettes and lottery tickets they sell (for the same price as others do) often sell bread (which is often priced by the manufacturer, with that price on the wrapper) for the same price as other stores sell it.

Milk is another product that may have a price very similar to its price at other stores. There may or may not be a slightly higher price at convenience stores, but it is usually not a big price difference.

When convenience stores offer brand name paper products like paper towels, bathroom tissue, facial tissues, or and coffee filters) the price can be close to double the price charged by other stores. Some convenience stores, however, offer inexpensive, lower-quality, paper products at a price more comparable to the price of brand-name items in other stores.

Canned food will almost certainly be priced substantially higher at convenience stores. Based on my unscientific "research", in general, it appears that canned foods that would cost a dollar or less at a larger grocery store generally cost approximately twice as much at convenience stores - sometimes slightly more. Coffee and tea can be substantially higher in convenience stores. The same brand/size can of coffee that would cost about three dollars at a larger store can cost in the area of five dollars (or slightly higher) at a convenience store. With limited shelf space, convenience stores may sell items like tea in the smallest packages but charge as much as three times what a larger store would.

Refrigerated foods and dairy products (other than milk) are generally priced higher than they are in larger stores, but they're also priced to sell - so the price difference isn't as substantial as it is for something like frozen foods, which last a long time in the freezer.

In general, if what you need at a convenience store is something a lot of other people often also need, the price difference will be smaller. That rule does not, however, apply

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