Use Variables Or Multiple SELECT's?

Stored procedure retrieves a single row from a single table... Based on the specific values in 4 different columns, different branch actions are taken using 4 nested IF statements.

The question is, what is more efficient: storing column values in 4 variables and then evaluting each of them, or executing the same query 4 times?

Scenario A:

DECLARE @var1 char(20), @var2 char(20), @var3 char(20), @var4 char(20)
SELECT @var1 = col1, @var2 = col2, @var3 = col3, @var4 = col4
FROM theTable
WHERE rid = 12345
IF @var1 = 1
...
ELSE IF @var2 = 2
...
ELSE IF @var3 = 3
... etc.
---------------

Scenario B:

IF (SELECT col1 FROM theTable WHERE rid = 12345) = 1
...
ELSE IF (SELECT col2 FROM theTable WHERE rid = 12345) = 2
...
ELSE IF (SELECT col3 FROM theTable WHERE rid = 12345) = 3
... etc.
--------

Scenario A or B? Please advise...


TIA,
Alex