Especially prominent in North America.
Want some cheap food or coffee while you’re out? Need cold/flu meds, stomach meds or painkillers late at night? Go ahead and support the petroleum industry because fuck you! Even most standalone chain convenience stores are still just offshoots of a petroleum centric parent company, like how Circle K stores are usually gas stations but there are some that don’t sell gas.
It also means that you basically don’t have access to a 24-hour store unless you’re in a car centric area most of the time.
IMO, this is a prime example that just because there are a lot of players in the market, doesn’t mean there isn’t a monopoly. An entire industry can collectively monopolize another industry and that should be just as illegal.
I recall gas stations being largely independent and them making their money mostly on the convenience side of the business and using the gas as an attractant but I’m sure somebody can correct me if I’m wrong.
