The Los Angeles Times reported over the weekend that more than 7,600 chain convenience stores are scattered across Mexico – five times the number less than a decade ago. “Mexicans,” the Times writes, “are warming to the notion of microwave burritos. Mexico's biggest chains are planning major expansions, taking advantage of changing lifestyles and consumer tastes.
“With more two-income families and lengthy commutes in urban areas, Mexicans increasingly are stopping in at convenience marts, attracted by bright aisles, longer opening hours and a wider selection than at many traditional mom-and-pop corner stores.”
The big difference between Mexican and US convenience stores, according to the story, is that the Mexican stores cannot sell gasoline – and that means that cold beverages have been identified as a key to these stores’ long-term success. “The nation's dominant brewers and soft-drink makers have seized on convenience stores as a way to push their products,” the Times writes. “They are constructing thousands of stand-alone, urban retail shops that function like giant vending machines for their brands.”
Another big difference between US and Mexican c-stores: In Mexico, the Slurpee has been “a bust,” the Times writes, because “Mexicans just didn't cotton to the taste of slushy Coke.”
“With more two-income families and lengthy commutes in urban areas, Mexicans increasingly are stopping in at convenience marts, attracted by bright aisles, longer opening hours and a wider selection than at many traditional mom-and-pop corner stores.”
The big difference between Mexican and US convenience stores, according to the story, is that the Mexican stores cannot sell gasoline – and that means that cold beverages have been identified as a key to these stores’ long-term success. “The nation's dominant brewers and soft-drink makers have seized on convenience stores as a way to push their products,” the Times writes. “They are constructing thousands of stand-alone, urban retail shops that function like giant vending machines for their brands.”
Another big difference between US and Mexican c-stores: In Mexico, the Slurpee has been “a bust,” the Times writes, because “Mexicans just didn't cotton to the taste of slushy Coke.”
- KC's View:
