All the World’s a Stage…

…and you can bet there’s a c-store not far away.

Blockbuster concerts. They go back a long way. So do the venues that hold them.

Let’s start with the Temple of Karnak in Ancient Egypt, circa 1500 B.C., a massive entertainment complex constructed out of sandstone, limestone, and red granite. Though it took over a thousand years to complete, the place wasn’t about the entertainment; the “shows” it featured consisted of religious ritual and dance.

The big pop culture moment for the concert venue came a few thousand years later, courtesy of the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The Greeks got splashy with the 14,000 Theatre of Epidaurus, where the Greek superstars of the day, Sophocles and Euripides, put on their plays.

It was the Roman Empire, though, that went the entertainment extra mile—as it often did—with Circus Maximus chariot races and gladiatorial clashes at the Roman Colosseum. It wasn’t all spectacle, though: to make economic sense, these huge venues booked lots of less sensational attractions and artistic activities to fill their calendars.

Nowadays, the number of famous concert venues is legion, many of them iconic. An American favorite, the Hollywood Bowl, was built in 1922, and even though its famous concert shell has been replaced multiple times, this place remains a great example of Art Deco architecture.

While the Hollywood Hills provide a great environment for a concert site, the Red Rocks Amphitheater near Morrison, Colorado, outdoes it with a staggering natural backdrop—tucking away an audience of 9,525 next to large sandstone formations and a couple of massive monoliths.

Until just a few years ago, a reasonable argument could be made that the Sydney Opera House was the most recognized, if not iconic, concert venue in the world, right on the Australian shore, with a unique roofline you can recognize even in silhouette.

That all changed in 2023 with The Sphere at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas. Some proclaim it to be the future of the concert stage, perhaps rightly so. By now everyone has at least seen it, but here are a few facts: it seats 17,600 concert goers inside, its completely round outside surface—known as the Exosphere— contains 580,000 square feet of programmable LED panels, and it’s 366 feet tall. There really are no parallels for staging, at least right now.

Now while most of these fine locations provide their own onsite food and beverage, human beings like snacking, too. We don’t know who sold Ancient Egyptian audiences date-honey bites, barley puffs, and porridge-like Haqet beer. Nor do we know where concertgoers in the Roman Empire got their olives, cheese, roasted nuts, and flagons of wine. But we do know that if you’re attended a modern concert, you’ve probably walked or driven by a c-store along the way, maybe like these:

Pink Dot, Hollywood Bowl. Pink Dot is an iconic chain of c-stores in the L.A. area, with one in the general vicinity of the Hollywood Bowl. Though lately they have emphasized delivery service on their websites, the pink buildings and Googie-infused architecture of their brick-and-mortar stores classic L.A. through and through.

Speedee Mart, Las Vegas, Nevada. This local chain of 23 stores has a site a few blocks down from the Sphere. This being Nevada, many of the stores have gaming, but the enterprise creates a niche within a highly contested retail market by advertising its vast selection of craft beers.

Rocket Convenience, Golden Colorado. Red Rocks gets its charm as a venue because it is far removed from the hustle and bustle of commercial districts. So it makes sense that you might have to travel a bit to find a c-store. When you find one, there’s a good chance it will be a Rocket Convenience Store, a small local chain with retail outlets that celebrate the Golden Age of Space Age architecture

Madison Square Garden Convenience Store. Okay, we probably could have mentioned Madison Square Garden in New York City earlier[1]; maybe we took it for granted. But if there’s one thing native Manhattanites don’t take for granted is their c-stores and bodegas. There’s a whole cluster near the Garden and Penn Station.

From the beginning of time, entertainment entrepreneurs have been challenging themselves to create a great environment for the paying customers in their audiences, while making the numbers work from a business sense. That’s not all that different from the basic goals of the c-store entrepreneur that may be operating a few blocks away. We, at SSCS, have been providing the technology that can help c-store owners maximize profit for close to 45 years. Call us at (800) 972-7727 and see how we can set your retail stage for improved success.

[1] Though the enterprise does like to call itself, “The World’s Most Famous Arena,” even if non-New Yorkers don’t.