For the sake of convenience

This story originally appeared in the September 9 issue of The Trussville Tribune…

All I wanted was a pack of gum. Jimmie and I had eaten one of those grocery store gourmet pizzas for supper, and a thorough tooth brushing hadn’t eliminated the strong flavor of garlic it left behind. So on the way to my friend Cindy’s house for one of those sales parties cleverly disguised as a girls night out, I stopped at a convenience store.

I was running a few minutes early and had plenty of time. And really, how long could it take? I pictured myself scooting in and out of the store, gum in hand, in about thirty seconds flat.

But I didn’t pay attention as I pulled in and parked at the side of the building; otherwise, I would have kept going. As I rounded the corner on my way to the front door, I realized the gas pump area was overflowing with cars, and the curbside parking places were full. My vision of a thirty-second gum run faded fast.

Inside the store, people swarmed, and the line at the register extended halfway down the candy aisle. I sidled past a woman cradling a six-pack and barely managed to dodge an unkempt and rather – um – odiferous man clutching similar selections in either hand. Realizing this was going to be more time-consuming than I’d thought, I quickly found some gum. Then keeping a breathable distance, I fell into line behind the stinker.

Of the customers ahead of me, most were prepaying for gas, but they were also purchasing items to feed their habits. (Okay, I was, too. I do love a good chaw of Trident.) But by the time one customer paid for a couple of cartons of cigarettes, he’d spent the better part of a hundred dollar bill, which was a lot of money going up in smoke, if you ask me.

As I mentally calculated how many packs of gum that hundred dollars would have bought – no easy feat for this math-challenged individual – I noted my surroundings. Not too many years ago, gas station convenience stores were about the size of a refrigerator box and offered little more than cigarettes, soft drinks and candy. This one, however, was half the size of a supermarket and jam-packed with all manner of merchandise.

Did you know you can buy office supplies in a convenience store? It’s true. Oh, you won’t get the selection you’ll find in one of the office supply superstores, but if you need paper clips or highlighters on a holiday, you can get them. You can also find duct tape, bobby pins, trash bags, and even a few of those “As Seen on TV” items I love so much.

Standing among such treasures reminded me of the time Jimmie and I went out to eat with friends after church one Sunday and learned that one of the kids in the group, Andy, was turning thirteen that day. As a birthday treat, we offered him ten dollars on the condition that he immediately go and purchase a gift for himself in a convenience store next door to the restaurant. He accepted the challenge, and we eagerly waited to see what he’d buy.

Fifteen minutes later, Andy returned to the restaurant sporting a puka shell necklace like the ones you get in those souvenir shops at the beach. Apparently they were “cool” that year, and we were amazed he found something in a convenience store – of all places – with which he was so utterly thrilled. We were also pleased to have hit upon such a simple solution to the age-old dilemma of what to give a teenage male for his birthday.

The memory made me smile, and I was still smiling as I paid for my gum and headed to Cindy’s. Yes, I thought to myself, even with stinky customers, endless supplies of cigarettes, and oceans of beer, convenience stores offer a compelling shopping experience. And if Andy is any indication, they’re great places for buying gifts, too.

I’ll have to remember that come Christmas. It could save me a lot of time in the malls.