page_title: Convenience store
section_title: Mexico
hierarchical_section_title: Convenience store / By country / Mexico
caption_attribution_description: English: A Miscelanea, a type of family-run convenience store, in Xalatlaco, Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico. The family typically lives on the 2nd floor and operates the store on their first floor. Español: Una tienda Miscelanea en Xalatlaco, Oaxaca de Juarez, Mexico.
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: Oxxo is the largest chain in the country, with more than 15,000 stores around the country. Other convenience stores, such as Tiendas Extra, 7-Eleven, SuperCity, ampm and Circle K, are also found in Mexico. The first convenience store in the country, Super 7 (now a 7-Eleven), was opened in 1976 in Monterrey, Nuevo León. There are also some regional chains, like Amigo Express and CB Mas, that operate in Comarca Lagunera, Super Q and El Matador in Queretaro, Coyote in Central Mexico and JV in Northeastern Mexico. Stores sell fast food like coffee, hot-dogs and nachos, cellphone prepaids between MXN$20 and MX$500, mainly Telcel and Movistar, newspapers, magazines, and some of their sells Panini products and other novelties.
  Misceláneas (lit. meaning "place where miscellaneous items are sold", and otherwise called "tiendas de abarrotes" (grocery store) in some parts of the country) are smaller, family-run convenience stores, often found in central and southern Mexico. They operate in many locations, from rural communities to suburban residential neighborhoods, usually located in front of or below the family's residence. They often fulfil the role of neighborhood meeting points and places to disseminate community news. While offering a more limited, and sometimes varied, assortment of items than corporate chains, they fill a void in many areas in which corporate companies do not operate. Usually, they also sell home-made snacks, such as tortas and sandwiches, made by the owners themselves. They also provide items in smaller quantities than would be offered for sale in larger stores and markets, for example selling single cigarettes along with full packs.
caption: A family run Miscelánea
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