Nearly 300 attendees from 135 companies met in Los Angeles for one-on-one strategic planning sessions. Ed Roitz said he came to the Convenience Store Decisions/ECRM Convenience/Front End/Checkstand Conference with an open mind. By the end of the first day, he had an open wallet. That’s because Roitz, president and CEO of Fleming Petroleum Corp. (Pittsburg,Kan.) [...]
It hardly seems appropriate for me to write about the joy of producing Convenience Store Decisions' milestone 200th issue, especially since I've been here barely long enough to figure out the voice mail system. But while my contribution to CSD encompasses all of six issues, I have had the good fortune of literally growing up [...]
Rutter's Holdings Inc. (York, PA), parent company of Rutter's Farm Stores andRutter's Dairy, was named 2005 "Business of the Year" by the Central PennBusiness Journal . The award honors Rutter's contribution to the centralPennsylvania business community, which includes leadership, innovation and growth."This award really means we have great employees who go the extra mile everyday [...]
Kum & Go has promoted Dennis Folden, who has been with the chain since1976, to chief operating officer. Folden's previous position was executive vicepresident. In his 30 years with the company, Folden has held roles as storemanager, retail supervisor and vice president of marketing, among others. AsCOO, Folden will manage the day-to-day activities of the [...]
Keeping a close eye on competitors, and an even closer eye on the changing needs of customers, is the key to becoming a destination. The late ’90s brought a lot of changes to Bill Gordy’s Delmar, DE-based convenience store business. As he witnessed the beverage category explode with the introduction of new SKUs, he saw [...]
Years ago, communities had little voice in whether a store would be built.But as markets grew more saturated, communities felt as though they were losingtheir identities. "Today, four or five people sit on a board and make the decision whether astore will be built," says Jim Fiene, senior vice president of Open Pantry FoodMarts of [...]
Retailers big and small would be wise to seek the help of professionals whencrafting a new store. Nice N Easy couldn't have achieved the results it haswithout help from an outside design firm. "Hooking up with Group Red kept us focused and gave us a new perspective,"says Nice N Easy President and CEO John MacDougall. [...]
CSD examines the financial hurdles the industry faced over the past 10 years, and how retailers will compete in the future. Since the first 7-Eleven opened its doors more than 75 years ago, the industry has served as a home for entrepreneurs and family-run businesses focused on meeting the everyday needs of busy consumers. Through [...]
Higher operating costs and lower margins are forcing marketers to boost profitability in other areas of the store. The convenience industry is under constant pressure from an ever-changing retail environment. This requires the constant need for marketers to refine store practices for driving new business, and to expand the consumer purchase of products beyond cigarettes [...]
CSD’s Chain of the Year Award may have seemed like a ’contrarian’ strategy in 1990. Now in its 17th year, the award program plays an increasingly vital industry role. The convenience store industry in 1990, to use a boxing analogy favored by us Philadelphians, looked a little like Rocky Balboa answering the bell for the [...]
Millions of dollars in rebates are out there for convenience store and petroleum marketers that know how and when to apply. A Philadelphia business consultant has a viable solution for retailers pinched by the rising costs of electricity and heat – ask the utilities for some of the money back. It’s not as simple as [...]
One manager, one employee or idea can make a difference in customers’ lives. Every interaction has the potential to create positive and negative experiences. Some psychologists say that every day, more of us feel less effective than we used to feel. Even relatively minor things, such as trying to get through a voice mail system [...]
CSD February '06 Issue Cover Story/Main Feature: Industry RetrospectiveThe Past, Present and Future of C-Store Retailing: A close look at the key issues that shaped the industry over the past 10 years. This story will analyze four key areas: The tobacco MSA, state and federal tax increases and the infringement of Internet/Native American cigarette sales. [...]
Water is vital to sustain any life, whether it be that of a human, an animal or a beverage category. Despite a furious wave of new item introductions in every beverage sub-category, consumers always seem to return to their colorless, odorless and tasteless master. "Our total water category from prior year is up 18%," says [...]
Mary Vinson knew she was facing an uphill battle the day she started working for Donnini Enterprises (Lake Park, FL). Her job, simply put, was to install a back-office accounting system using the state-of-the-art computers the company purchased a year earlier. Just hours into her tenure Vinson faced her first daunting challenge: opening the boxes [...]