by R. Renee Bembry

Created on: December 11, 2007

Blocks from home, your cell rings the caller reminds you the fridge is void of milk for morning coffee and cereal. Tired after a long workday and fed up with traffic, you backtrack one block to the convenience store rather than drive eight blocks to the grocer.

Inside the store, you wrap your fingers around a milk jug and head for the line. Awaiting your turn, your eyes scan the vast assortment of colorfully packaged goods vying for your attention. The short line moves forward; so you take a couple steps toward the cashier. Your pupils, however, remain affixed to a candy bar a piece of chocolate right now sounds good you think.

Your taste buds begin crying out for the sweet sensation of stretchy caramel and chewy nougat you know lies inside the colorful packaging. You almost feel the bar's smooth textures roll over your tongue.

Then your brain reminds you the grocer sells the same size and type one dollar candy bar at half the price during regular sales and one third the price during special sales. This means you can get two or three bars for the same money you'll spend to indulge on one right now. The line moves again. The customer in front of you hands the cashier payment for a fountain drink leaving you with seconds to decide whether to spend or not to spend wisely.

At the end of the final second wait, your brain further reminds you you're already going to spend extra to buy the milk at this convenience store; and thus, will be throwing away even more money if you purchase the candy. Besides, you know you can buy a thirty-count box of candy bars at the warehouse store for about eleven dollars even when the warehouse candy is not on special. That's a savings of 63%.

Okay...you're next...and whether or not you decide to grab the candy bar will determine your current choice to pay for the cost of not only the bar, but the convenience of buying it at a store only a few blocks from home rather than an eight block away supermarket or a several mile away warehouse.

Although convenience stores tend to be small, and may not offer much in the way of comparative brands of like items, they offer their goods in locations consumers are likely to patronize simply because they're "convenient". For this reason, convenience store operators tend to markup goods higher than grocers or warehouses because convenience retailers know consumers will pay the higher price when it is convenient to do so. This is why convenience stores tend to be situated near residential neighborhoods, schools,

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