ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Tips For Naming A Convenience Store

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Last Updated on October 2, 2020

There are more than 40,000 convenience stores in the United States alone. So, it’s no surprise settling on a unique name when starting a convenience store feels impossible. 

Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea about the services your business provides, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.

Are all the good convenience store business names already taken? How do you come up with something fresh? And what about knowing when a name is available to use? 

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If you’re not sure how to answer those questions, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn my top tips for choosing a catchy name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available across the board. 

Let’s dive in!

Tips for Choosing the Perfect Convenience Store Name

If you’re struggling to choose a company name for your convenience store, one of the best things to do is to just start brainstorming. As you go through the tips outlined below, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your business. 

From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like. 

Once you have several top considerations, we’ll walk through how to make sure you’re allowed to use them. This last step helps you narrow down your list even more so you can make a final decision. 

1. Location-Specific Terms

Most convenience stores are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your store name. 

You can consider things like:

  • City nicknames
  • Neighborhoods
  • Regions or states
  • And descriptive terms

However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. Does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later. 

2. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce, Hear, or Spell

Despite the technological advances of voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words. 

This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) search if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words, industry jargon, and using numbers in place of letters.  While having a unique convenience store name is good, being too unique may not be so good. 

Keep your business name as simple and easy to remember as possible so your target market can easily find you. 

3. Consider Alliterations and Rhyming Words

Alliterations and rhymes are catchy and easy to remember. Because of that, they make for great small business names. 

That said, it’s not always easy to come up with them. Start with choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorm list. 

Then, you can Google “words that start with C” to come up with a name like Corner Convenience or E for Easy Eats or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____”. 

It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start. 

And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorm list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with in this stage.  Just write them all down as some of the more interesting ones may spark better ideas later.

4. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms

Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make great business names. They can also be challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search as well. 

Furthermore, there are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language. And the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small. 

5. Imagery Words

Another consideration when brainstorming name ideas is whether there are industry related words that could also lend themselves to also be used in a logo. For instance, a convenience store could use shopping cart or a shopping bag and focus the name around the image

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6. Still Struggling? Try the Owner’s Name

If you’ve made it this far and are still struggling to find the best name, you can always consider using the business owner’s name. Doing so works well if the owner plans to also be the face behind the business. 

Something to keep in mind is that using the owner’s name (or even the name of a family member) as the business name can make it more challenging to sell the business in the future. 

Still Needing Inspiration?

Here is a list of existing convenience store names that may help give you some creative ideas.  While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure it can be used.

Tips on how to check business name availability is after the list of names!

  • 10th Street Convenience Store
  • 1340 Mini Market 
  • 158 West Gate Food Corp
  • 16 General Store
  • 24 Hour Store 
  • 54th Street Convenience Store
  • 789 Mini Market 
  • A & A Stop & Shop
  • A M Convenience Store 
  • A Quick Stop
  • A To Z Mini Mart 
  • A1A Convenience Store
  • All American Snack Shack
  • Alltown Fresh
  • Ana Snack Bar 
  • Andy’s Mini Market 
  • Annie J’s Snack Shack
  • Apopka Quick Mart
  • At Ur Convenience 
  • Avenue D Convenience Mart
  • B & J’s Mini Mart
  • B & M Off Leesbrrg 
  • B & P’s Community Store
  • Beaver Quick Mart 
  • Big Apple Convenience Market
  • Boundless Snacks 
  • Bradley Mini Mart 
  • Brian’s Discount Market
  • Bristol Convenience & Deli
  • Bros Mini Mart
  • Brothers Convenient Store
  • B’s Family Mart 
  • Bubba’s Stop N Go 
  • Budget Food Store
  • BZ Food Mart
  • Campbell Snacks National
  • Carlie Convenience Store
  • Caroline’s Pantry 
  • Carroll’s Corner Market
  • Convenience To Go
  • Cooper’s Country Creations
  • Corner Pantry
  • Corner Store Convenience
  • Crossway Foodmart
  • C-Store 616 
  • Da Kurve One Stop 
  • Dade City Go Mart 
  • Discount Convenience Store
  • Discount Food Mart
  • Discount KWIK Shop 
  • Dollar & Up Convenience Store
  • Duval’s Urban Pantry
  • Eagle Market
  • Eastside Food Store
  • Easy Shop 
  • Econo Mart
  • Elemental Mini Market
  • Empire Mini Mart
  • Express Mart 
  • Fair Haven Mini Market 
  • Fast Track
  • Feel Good Shop 
  • Felo Man Mini Market 
  • First Snack Stop
  • Five Points Convenience Store
  • Flagler Quick Stop Corp
  • Flamingo Mini Mart 
  • Food Mart
  • Foodie Express
  • Fresh 2 Go Market
  • Friendly Mart Beer & Wine
  • Get N Go
  • Go Market 
  • Grab ‘n Go Mart 
  • Grabin-Go 
  • Green Cove Food Store
  • Guilford Food Stop 
  • Hall’s Minit Mart
  • Happy Food Mart
  • Happy Snacky
  • Healthy Always 365 Food Pantry
  • Healthy Snacks & More 
  • High Falls Market
  • High Score Marketplace
  • Highway Mini Mart
  • Hot Box Food Shop
  • Hourglass Munchies
  • I Got The Juice 
  • In & Out Food Mart
  • Indian River Snacks 
  • J & J Quick Stop
  • Jax Mini Mart 
  • Jax Quick Stop
  • Jet Food Store
  • Joe’s Grocery
  • Jojo Mini Market
  • Kangaroo Express
  • King’s Mini Mart
  • Kwick Stop 
  • L A Guadalupe Stop & Shop 
  • Las Americas Mini Market 
  • Latinos Mini Market 
  • Lawn Convenience Store
  • Laybranko Grocery Store
  • Liberty Go
  • Lily’s One Stop Mini Mkt 
  • Lozanos Mini Mart
  • Lucky Food Mart
  • Lucy Mini Market 
  • Luigi’s Convenience Shop
  • Lulu’s Mini Market 
  • Mango Food Mart
  • Maxwell’s Corner
  • Mid Way Mini Mart
  • Midway Qwik Stop 
  • Mike’s Convenience
  • Millennium Mini Mart 
  • Miller Foodmart
  • Mini Mart 
  • Neighborhood Food Store
  • Neighborhood Market
  • North Beach Mini Mart 
  • North Main Corner Store 
  • North Port Qwik Stop 
  • Olustee General Store
  • One Food Stop
  • One Place Foodmart
  • One Stop Market 
  • One Stop Mini Market 
  • Orient Mini Market 
  • Paradise Convenience Store
  • Pecan Park Express Mart
  • Plaza Market
  • Prime Stop Food Mart 
  • Princess Convenience 
  • Project Road Trip 
  • Queen’s Qwik Stop 
  • Quick Food Mart 
  • Quick Grab N Go 
  • Quick N E Z Corner Store
  • Quick Stop
  • Rooster On 50th
  • Sensational Snacks 
  • Seven Star Food Mart 
  • Seymour Food Mart
  • Shift N Drive
  • Shop & Go Express 
  • Shop N Go
  • Shop N Save Mini Mart
  • Six Star Snackbar
  • Smiles Per Gallon 
  • Smith Quick Shop
  • Snack Box
  • Snack Sack 
  • Snacks & Sweets 
  • Snacks Delight 
  • Snacks For All 
  • Snacks R Us
  • Snak Shak 
  • Snoopy’s Quick Stop
  • Snowy Mini Mart
  • Sophie’s Mini Mart
  • South Main Convenient Store
  • South Sanderson One Stop
  • Southside General Store
  • Speedee Market
  • Speedy Mini Mart 
  • Sports Corner
  • Springer Stop & Go 
  • Stop N Go
  • Stop N Save
  • Stop N Shop
  • Stop-N-Save Mart
  • Tru Family Korner Store 
  • Venice Convenience
  • Village Grocery Store
  • Willow Convenience Store 
  • Xpress Food 
  • Xtra Convenience Store 
  • Your Convenience 
  • Z Man Mini Mart 

Is Your Name Available to Use?

At this point, you should have several top considerations to choose from. And the best way to narrow it down further is to check each one for availability. 

This step is vital, because using a name that someone else is using could be very costly, time-consuming to rebrand your business and possibly embarrassing. There are several places to look to check whether a name is available to use, so let’s walk through each one. 

Trademark Search

Trademarks are the most critical, so we’ll start here. 

If a name or phrase is trademarked, you’re not allowed to use it in a similar capacity. So, run a trademark search for each business name you’re considering and cross off those that aren’t available. 

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Local Search

Just because there isn’t a federal trademark on a name doesn’t mean the name you want is available.  That’s because there is a trademark known as a common law trademark. A common law trademark isn’t filed anywhere, but provides someone who is using that name in commerce some limited rights in their geographical area to use the name.  It can be hard to define how far geographically these rights extend as each industry is different, but at a basic level, someone can’t open a business and name it the same or similar name as a competing business in town. If you think the name could potentially create confusion with customers, it is usually best to just find another one to use to avoid potential legal issues down the road. 

To do a local search, open up the phone book (if you still have one), and do a Google search to see if there are any local competitors with a similar business name to the one you want to use. 

Cross off any similar names from your list and take the rest and let’s keep checking.  

State Entity Search (If Applicable)

If you plan to register your convenience store as a corporation or LLC, you have to register with a unique business name with the state. Each state requires every corporation or LLC to register a unique name for their entity.  This doesn’t necessarily protect your name from anyone else using it, but nobody can register a corporation or LLC under the same name in your state.

Related: ?

If you find the name is in use, cross it off your list and move on.

Domain Name Availability

Website addresses aren’t as critical as the first three searches, but it’s still worth doing. Typically, you want your domain name to be “yourbusinessname.com” without any numbers, dashes, etc.

It’s easiest for customers to remember, but these are hard to come by.

However, you can explore other configurations and extensions if your preferred domain name isn’t available. Just remember your customers may have a more difficult time finding you online.

You can start with . Type in the domain name you want to use to see if it’s available. The tool also returns other possibilities you may want to consider.

Social Media Profiles

Next, especially if you are stuck between a couple of names, check and see if anyone is already using your potential convenience store names on social media. Consider which platforms you plan to use and start with those. 

Keep in mind you may have to shorten your company name for some platforms. Twitter only allows 15 characters, for example. 

Start with your preferred platforms and do a quick search for your name. If nothing pops up, that likely means no one is using it, and you’re good to go. 

Example: Someone is using startingyourbusiness on Instagram, so I would have to choose a different handle, making it more difficult for customers to find me.

Hopefully you now have some ideas to name your convenience store. Once you have this list narrowed down to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family and potential customers their thoughts to get feedback and then pick your perfect convenience store name!

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