One small c-store lived up to its name when a Massachusetts woman who accidentally tossed out a $1 million lottery ticket eventually collected her winnings. Lea Rose Fiega bought the $30 Diamond Millions scratch-off ticket at the Lucky Stop convenience store in Southwick, Massachusetts, but ended up discarding it, thinking it wasn’t a winner. Turns out, it was. The halfway-scratched-off ticket had been sitting in the discarded pile at the store for days when Abhi Shah, whose family owns the store, checked the ticket and discovered the winning number. Fiega is a regular customer, so the family pinpointed who had discarded it and contacted her. The store gets a $10,000 bonus from the state lottery commission for selling the winner, and Fiega gave the family an additional reward for their kindness and honesty. She’s saving the rest for retirement. 

CURATED CONVENIENCE

Vancouver, British Columbia, is taking the traditional convenience store to the next level with The Drive Canteen, which opened in November. Snack lovers can purchase locally made treats, tricked-out hot dogs, loaded nachos and housemade beverages. Shoppers can also revel in the c-store’s custom sneaker collection, curated streetwear and urban art hub focused on local artists. A hot bar features made-to-order nachos and hot dogs of all kinds, such as regional classics Chicago-style and Quebec steamie, Japanese-inspired with wasabi mayo and bulldog tonkatsu sauce and an Italian variation with pepperoni jam, tomato sauce and mozzarella. The cool zone has milkshakes and a variety of small-batch adult-style nonalcoholic beverages. 

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Japanese convenience store FamilyMart has introduced a robot with artificial intelligence that automatically restocks drinks at one of its stores in Tokyo. The robot was developed by Tokyo based startup Telexistence Inc. The device, which consists of an arm, body, rail and other parts, is set between the shelves and uses an image sensor to detect when the products need to be refilled. The robot can carry a plastic bottle or an aluminum can weighing up to two kilograms for about 30 seconds. It’s capable of operating 24 hours a day. The chain plans to install similar robots in more stores in the future.