page_title: Convenience store
section_title: Canada
hierarchical_section_title: Convenience store / By country / Canada
caption_attribution_description: Photo of a Couche-tard convenience store in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
context_page_description: A convenience store, convenience shop, or corner store is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, tobacco products, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers, and magazines. In some jurisdictions, convenience stores are licensed to sell alcohol, although many such jurisdictions limit such beverages to those with relatively low alcoholic content such as beer and wine. Such stores may also offer money order and wire transfer services, along with the use of a fax machine or photocopier for a small per-copy cost. Some also offer to sell tickets or recharge a smart card, like the OPUS card in Montreal. They differ from general stores and village shops in that they are not in a rural location and are used as a convenient supplement to larger stores.
  A convenience store may be part of a gas/petrol station, so customers can purchase goods conveniently while filling their vehicle with fuel. It may be located alongside a busy road, in an urban area, near a railway or railroad station, or at another transport hub.
context_section_description: Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., which operates Couche-Tard, Provi-Soir, Dépanneur 7, Circle K and Becker's, is the largest convenience store chain in Canada and receives its products through Core-Mark International, a North American distribution company specializing in fresh convenience. Another large chain is Quickie Mart (whose name predates the fictitious "Kwik-E-Mart" featured on The Simpsons). The world's largest convenience retailer, 7-Eleven, has about 500 Canadian locations from British Columbia to Ontario. Worldwide, the highest number of the chain's Slurpee beverages are sold in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and the city has been given the title of the "Slurpee Capital of the World". Marketing itself as "more than just a convenience store", there are over 260 Hasty Market locations throughout Ontario, and Hasty Markets also exist in British Columbia.
  In addition to chain convenience stores, there are also many independently owned convenience stores in Canada.
  Convenience stores are also commonly referred to as "corner stores", "mini-marts", or "variety stores" in some regions of Canada. In the French-speaking province of Quebec, a convenience store is known as a "dépanneur", or "dep" for short, even among some when speaking in English. "Dépanneur" translates as "troubleshooter".
caption: Entrance of a Couche-Tard convenience store in Montreal, Quebec
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