Color.
Those kinds of places were very common in rural areas. There was one in every wide spot in the road town around here when I was young. If the town was on a highway, there was sometimes more than one. The one with the post office was usually busier though. That brings to mind another thing. The UPS truck was a fairly rare sight outside of large towns. Everything came to the post office. Including the baby chicks every spring.
Notions were important too. Besides the crap you picked up on a whim, if the batteries went dead in the flashlight or radio it was a long way to the next large town to get more.
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That was very much The British scene too, pre-war. There was a gradual morphing from convenience store that also sold fuel, to a more purpose motor car orientated place that became known as a filling station, then some went on to become service and repair centres, whilst a few became car showrooms for new car sales. Now it's come full circle and the shop part of the filling station is once more, a convenience store.
Mid- to late 1950s, I think. That was one of the Raymond Loewy-designed Studebakers, though I don't know model names.
The car might be hers, and he's chatting her up -- the playboy owner, or owner's son, making time with a customer.
That figure must have been a standard model. We had a muffler shop in the suburbs here with that same figure, and until fairly recently he remained outside the same building, which now houses an auto title company.
Without knowing what "Route," it would be hard to say where this is. NM is a big state. The mountains suggest north or west borders; the eastern border with Texas is pretty flat.
