ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Kevin Smith admits that he has “an obsession with convenience stores”—one that has been going on since the debut of his movie “Clerks” in 1994. The iconic movie, largely set at a Quick Stop Groceries in Leonardo, N.J., is probably the best-known movie about convenience stores. Since then, Smith has featured convenience stores in several of his movies, most recently “Clerks 3,” which comes out in 2022.

We caught up with Smith to get his views on the industry and he shared some thoughts in a video to attendees at the NACS Show.

Want more on the intersection with convenience stores and the movies? Check out the July 2007 NACS Magazine cover story, “From Real Life to Reel Life,” that featured interviews with several Hollywood luminaries including Chris Rock. The issue caught the attention of writer Peter Carlson, who wrote in the Washington Post that the NACS Magazine article was “a masterpiece—the definitive history of the portrayal of convenience stores in American cinema.”

Carlson continued: “The author, Michael Klein, provided a rich textual analysis of convenience store scenes in It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Thelma & Louise, Booty Call, Raising Arizona, Grosse Point, Blank and Clerks—plus TV shows ranging from Seinfeld to Mad About You to that classic Simpsons episode in which Apu, the lovable owner of the Kwik-E-Mart, sells a 29-cent stamp for $1.85.”

Listen to the Convenience Matters podcast episode No. 4 “Convenience Stores in the Movies” which featured a conversation with Michael Klein.