DoorDash adds convenience stores to make quarantine easier

DoorDash, one of the multiple services that enable customers to order food from local restaurants and have it dropped off at their door by gig economy workers, has expanded to include convenience stores. The new expansion covers around 1,800 convenience stores throughout the United States, the company announced on Wednesday, including popular destinations like 7-11, Wawa, and CircleK.

Convenience stores are distinctly different from grocery stores and pharmacies — they're the smaller shops that are scattered throughout the US (and most other countries), serving as something like modern-day general stores. These destinations usually offer a small selection of packaged and hot foods, as well as the most common household items: batteries, paper towels, pain relievers, and similar items.

Though existing stay-home orders allow the public to pop into the nearest convenience store when they're in need of an item, online orders through services like Instacart have become the default shopping method of many consumers, reducing the number of people who are crowded into a store at any given time while helping support the individuals who are relying on the gigs for income.

DoorDash users will notice a new 'Convenience' option listed in the upper carousel of the app where different cuisine types are displayed. Tapping this will pull up local convenience stores that are now available on the DoorDash platforms, including the goods that they sell. Users can select the items they want, pay for them through the service, and then have them left on their porch by the shopper.

The new convenience store option is an expansion of the pilot DoorDash first introduced earlier this year. The company describes this as an 'accelerated launch' of the new feature that'll help consumers during this time of quarantine. Additional stores and items sold by those stores will be added to the service in the coming days, so double-check later on this week if the store you're looking for isn't currently listed.