I walked into a convenience store (a Great Stops, as I recall) tonight to use the bathroom after buying some gas. It struck me midstream that I almost never go inside convenience stores anymore now that I don’t smoke…at least not local ones. Since buying gas hasn’t required a trip inside for about twenty years (except for my dad, who always pays cash) my only reason for entering one is to buy a drink or take a whiz, and I usually only do these things in a convenience store when I’m traveling.
I used to visit convenience stores all the time. In fact, I used to consider myself something of a connoisseur. I really think that removing the need to buy cigarettes (November marks nine years) was the big catalyst for this change. I used to know where the cheap smokes and the best beer and soda selections were, where I could find Funyuns and Bugles, and exactly where I could get cash back with no fee. Not anymore, alas.
Of course, I also used to be able to compose a simple post without resorting to random babbling about convenience stores, too. Things change…