Here's What Happened Inside Convenience Stores When Gas Hit $4

Continuing our coverage of consumer behavior shifts at petrol stations and convenience stores, the U.S. national average for 87-octane gasoline has remained above the politically sensitive $4-a-gallon level for three weeks. Goldman analysts have released a new note indicating that a majority of convenience stores are seeing drivers buying less fuel and trading down in-store.

Bonnie Herzog, managing director and senior consumer analyst at Goldman, penned a note titled Q1 "Beverage Bytes," which covers a survey of 32,000 retail locations, or about 21% of convenience stores nationwide.