Take your bike in the mini-mart? (Page 2)

Take it in. I had a bike stolen outside the mini-mart when I left it outside for 2 minutes. With the help of a delivery driver outside the store who witnessed the entire incident, I was able to catch the guy and his girlfriend trying to fit my bike in the trunk of their car about 5 blocks away. I started fighting with the guy and was winning until the girl jumped on my back and started trying to gouge my eyes out. Long story short - they got away with my bike, I filed a police report, they eventually caught the guy but never recovered the bike, and I received 3 years of restitution checks from one of the state of Florida prisons. Luckily it was a crappy bike. Take it in.

If it's a store where it's not going to be a big pain in the butt getting through the door and finding an out of the way place to put it I'll bring it in. Short of that, I always bring my lock on solo rides so I chain it.

Yep, I'm rural, but people steal stuff here all the time, less people around to catch you.

Plus I had a really nice Fuji when I was a teen that went missing- once was enough for me!!

I have a small cable lock with me for these quick in and out store trips that is just sturdy enough to keep honest people honest.

I would say take it in, but if you do have to leave it outside, a good trick is to lay your helmet on the ground next to the bike and surreptitiously lock your helmet buckle around one of the wheels. It's not foolproof, obviously, but if a thief who's looking for a quick score tries to jump on the unattended bike and pedal away, it's liable to slow them down and make enough of a commotion that they'll panic and drop the bike.