Large
gas station convenience stores always seem to offer a far greater selection of hard to find snack and beverage items than other venues. Some
grocery stores have a comparable array of
beverages (though often they're not available
chilled), but nowhere near the selection of candy or
crunchy things available in a gas station. For instance, how many
restaurants will serve you an ice cold strawberry
Yoo-Hoo with your meal? Have you ever visited a
movie theater that offered more than two varieties of
Mentos?
It seems that
AM/PM is responsible for this trend - '
Too much good stuff.' Most of the items in a gas station convenience store are meant to be
impulse buys, like the variety of strange objects sold near the
cash register.
Americans have short attention spans. We dig
novelty. Thus, it's in the store's best interest to supply
obscure goodies, preferrably those with interesting packaging. And, truthfully, a gas station can't move inventory that's not designed for
snacking while driving nearly quickly enough.
Lunchables and
tiny buckets of chili may languish on a shelf until they grow dusty. Customers don't trust fresh fruit from a convenience store (with good reason). In newer gas stations, the ones with more space for an actual store, the company may have some difficulty filling the shelves, creating yet another incentive to bring in
the weird and uncommon.