Convenience
Store
Her
embarrassed downward gaze and smile
Greets me,
As stunned,
I stare too long.
It tells me
that she doesn’t know
That she is
perfect.
All that
dark hair
And shining
youth.
A vision
Of exquisite
beauty.
I wonder why
no fool has ever told her.
Then
stammering, I speak
Like an
elder fool,
“Excuse me”.
Passing by
her in the aisle,
I grab my
item from the peg,
Making a
concerted effort
Not to look
again.
But then on
the way to the counter,
I spy a
sideways glance,
Only to see
her face
Looking in
my direction,
Still
smiling that humble red-faced grin
As if she
was flattered by the gape-mouth imbecile
Who was
stunned by her presence.
But she
doesn’t know what I see.
And I’m sad
that she does not seem to know.
Now I wonder
who is more embarrassed.
She or I?
It should
definitely be me.
For I should
have told her.
-- Alexey Kondakov
-- Alexey Kondakov
A convenience store is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, tobacco products, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers, and magazines. In some countries they have long shopping hours, some remaining open 24 hours. Although newer ones may have a broad range of items, their selection is still limited compared to supermarkets, and in many stores only one or two choices are available. Prices in a convenience store are often higher but attract customers by serving more locations and having longer open hours and shorter cashier lines. The concept began in 1927 when employee John Jefferson Green began selling eggs, milk, and bread from one of the 16 Southland Ice Company storefronts in Dallas, Texas, with permission from one of the firm's founding directors, Joe C. Thompson, Sr., who eventually bought the chain and renamed it the Southland Corporation. In 1928 another employee, Jenna Lira, placed in front of the store a totem pole she had bought as a souvenir from Alaska, and
ReplyDeletesoon Thompson put totem poles in front of every store and called the new chain "Tote'm Stores."
. In the same year, the company began constructing gasoline stations in some of its Dallas locations as an experiment. Joe Thompson also provided a distinct characteristic to the company's stores, training the staff so that people would receive the same quality and service in every store. Southland also started to have a uniform for its ice station service boys. This became the major factor in the company's success as a retail convenience store. The stores' names were renamed 7-Eleven in 1946 to promote their new extended hours (from 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM); 24-hour service began in 1963 at an Austin, Texas, store. When Thompson died in 1961 his son John Philp Thompson expanded the business, licensing franchises in 1968. By 1985 global revenues exceeded $12.7 billion, but was forced to begin selling off various properties in 1987. In 1990, heavily in debt, Southland filed for bankruptcy in order to transfer control of 70% of the company to a Japanese affiliate, Kabushiki-gaisha Itō Yōkadō, and exited bankruptcy the following year after a cash infusion of $430 million cash infusion from Itō Yōkadō and Seven-Eleven Japan. Southland changed its name to 7-Eleven, Inc. in 1999, and Itō Yōkadō formed Seven & I Holdings Co.; 7-Eleven became a Seven & I subsidiary in 2005.