The Kwik-E-Mart is a convenience store that sells the usual fare at extraordinarily high prices, including the always popular Squishee. The Kwik-E-Mart chain was started somewhere in the Himalayas.
Springfield’s Kwik-E-Mart is operated by an Indian American named Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, who mans the store with his brother Sanjay and is a caricature of the stereotypical “foreign born” convenience store clerk. Apu is an extremely devoted convenience store clerk/owner, rarely closing his store and occasionally working 96-hour shifts. Apu proudly gouges customers and sells tainted merchandise, such as rotten meat or expired milk. Springfield’s Kwik-E-Mart is quite often the target of robbers, leading to Apu having been shot on several occasions. It is a favorite target of local criminal Snake Jailbird, who has held up the Kwik-E-Mart several times.