I am perplexed on why something so simple isn't working, so I must be missing something obvious.

Here is my code:

```
    $store_category = '<%= terms %>';
    $store_url_suffix = '';
    if ($store_category == 'A1' ) {
      $store_url_suffix = 'coupon';
    } else {
      $store_url_suffix = '100-special-coupon';
    }

```

To note, if I echo `$store_category` it shows for instance *'A1'*, *'A2'* or *'A3'* etc as it should. The problem is the conditional expression of the if statement never evaluates to *true* so it never assigns *'coupon'* to `$store_url_suffix` and instead is always going to the else block, where it assigns *'100-special-coupon'* to `$store_url_suffix`.

Is there a reason why the conditional in this line `if ($store_category == 'A1' ) {` isn't evaluating to *true* even though echoing `$store_category` shows infact it has value *'A1'*? Am I missing a semi-colon or something here?