By 2007, sales could reach nearly $1.3 trillion in kiosk transactions. Self-service kiosks are a growing trend in retailing that is expected to accelerate five-fold in sales during the next two years. By 2007, sales could reach nearly $1.3 trillion in kiosk transactions, something savvy convenience store, truck stop and travel plaza operators need to [...]
Marketers tend to give a lot of counter space to novelty lighters, but BIC warns that long-term profitability comes from repeat sales of traditional products. That novelty lighter that emits a powerful flame might make for an interesting conversation starter, but it’s not the best way to grow long-term profitability in the lighter category, warns [...]
Canastota, N.Y.-based Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes knows how to make an entrance. Just before it opened its Taft Road locationthe 85th store in the chain and the fifth ground-up location with the new store design introduced more than a year agostore personnel visited about 125 local businesses with “welcome baskets.” “We got a list [...]
Valero found a solution for its stores ice situations while uncovering an invaluable tool for relieving hurricane stricken refineries It would have been hard to predict how fortuitous the meeting of Valero Energy Corp. and Follett Inc. would be after the North American Association of Food Equipment Manufacturers (NAFEM) conference in New Orleans a few [...]
New Sun Stop prototype appeals to women, elderly shoppers. Getting more stores and giving better customer service are two tried-and-true ways to boost c-store profits, so when Southwest Georgia Oil Co. (SWGO) decided to grow its business, both tactics made the short list. But a thirdand much less conventionalapproach seems to be working even better: [...]
Wilbur Curtis blends technology with simplicity in its G3 Concept Series Primo Cappuccino machine. With fuel prices soaring and instore margins shrinking, hot beverages have emerged as one of the most profitable sections in the convenience store. With a price point usually not much more than a regular cup of coffee, cappuccino sales are helping [...]
Premium products driving the moist smokeless tobacco business, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco said. An influx of deep-discount products is leading retailers to change the way they merchandise moist smokeless tobacco (MST) products, and experts are concerned that these changes are adversely affecting moist smokeless profitability. As the deep-discount segment has grown in volume, it is compressing [...]
Advances in technology enable efficiency while providing an attractive return on investment. Self-service ordering kiosks have been in use for more than four years. The reasons for their staying power are many, but the bottom-line is that kiosks please both c-stores and their customers. Can you imagine being able to take multiple orders, simultaneously? That’s [...]
Advances in technology enable efficiency while providing an attractive return on investment. Self-service ordering kiosks have been in use for more than four years. The reasons for their staying power are many, but the bottom-line is that kiosks please both c-stores and their customers. Can you imagine being able to take multiple orders, simultaneously? That’s [...]
Wayne Moser, Town Pump Food Stores Wayne Moser studied electrical technology with the hopes of gaining employment in the oil fields in Western North Dakota or Eastern Montana, where he had always dreamed of moving. Unfortunately, the oil boom era was slowing down just after his college years, which made it difficult to find employment [...]
Fresh off its acquisition of Good Time Stores in El Paso, Texas, Alon USA’s President and Chief Executive Jeff Morris sat down with Convenience Store Decisions to get his take on the changing face of the convenience industry and to share his perspective on what differentiates his stores in the marketplace. CSD: What is the [...]
Carwash dollars compensate for shrinking gas profits. Remember when convenience stores and gas stations used to give a free carwash with the purchase of a full tank of gas? Now, shrinking fuel margins are causing an increasing number of store operators to look to carwash sales to boost the bottom line. According to the International [...]
As New Jersey faces its fourth excise tax increase in four years, retailers are watching their dwindling tobacco sales head across state lines. Every state has its own issues to deal with, but it seems that New Jersey has been dealt a particularly difficult hand. “New Jersey is a difficult state for convenience stores to [...]
Finding the right ice machine can turn the dispensed beverage business into one red-hot category. Ice and ice delivery is a vital part of a convenience and/or gas store’s inventory. Whether it’s used to complement selfserve beverage systems, for sale as bagged ice or within the store for icing down beverages and food displays, ice [...]
It can easily be argued that refrigerators are the most critical piece of equipment in your kitchen. No matter what type of foodservice operation you run, you need refrigeration. Keeping food at the proper temperature without using too much energy is essential to food quality, food safety and your bottom line. Before you buy, there [...]