While manufacturers race to remove trans-fats from snacks, c-store staples with a twist are earning some retailers robust sales. The salty snack category, with its fat-laddened chips and processed flavors, has never conjured ideas of healthy eating. The category took a hit when the Atkins diet burst on the scene, but consumers have since returned [...]
Retail safes, or “smart safes” as they’re often referred, are quickly becoming a regular component of secure, successful stores. And with their increasing regularity in the industry comes expanded options and technology for retailers to take advantage. CSD gathered insight from four of the biggest cash management suppliers to discuss how their products can best [...]
Russ ScaramellaArizona Oil Holdings LLC Russ scaramella may not have had a specific career in mind growing up, but he's always had a passion for business and working with people. Scaramella channeled that passion into something positive when he and partner Delery Guillory decided to create Arizona Oil Holdings LLC. Before creating Arizona Oil, Scaramella [...]
CSD and Wilsons Fuel Co. teamed up to participate in the World Pond Hockey Championships in Canada. Right: CSD Editor John Lofstock pushes the puck up the ice against the Boston Danglers. If you freeze it, they will come, and that was certainly the case for the CSD/Wilsons Fuel Ice Dawgs. Convenience Store Decisions‘ Editor [...]
A CSD Staff Report The consumption of bottled water is steadily increasing and it benefits convenience retailers to meet that demand. Not a bad problem to have as bottled water often retails between $1.19 and $1.39, and has a high gross margin. But because packaged beverage consumption is on the rise, the issue of moving [...]
If there was one message to come out of Convenience Store Decisions‘ loyalty Webcast it’s that there is a loyalty solution for everyone, regardless of chain size and the financial investment. CSD‘s “Building and Integrating a LoyaltyProgram,” part of its Online RoundtableSeries, brought together multiple retailers,suppliers and industry experts to discussthe loyalty options currently available [...]
By Scott Jordan, Contributing Editor Lighting control is a must for convenience store owners and managers, but it can also be a source of frustration due to required maintenance of mechanical and electronic time clocks that have been used for decades to automatically turn lights on and off as necessary. But storeowners and managers are [...]
Retailers are using safe technology to secure profits and keep an eye on employees. One minute, maybe two. That’s all it takes for an armed robber to come into a convenience store, jam a gun in a clerk’s face, clean out the register and flee like the wind into the night. It takes even less [...]
Many companies profess to be all about their customers and employees. Spend anytime at QuikTrip, the subject of this month's cover story, and you'll see its devotion to these two vital retail components is sincere and palpable. I was fortunate enough to spend a day last monthat QuikTrip's headquarters with Mike Thornbrugh, public and governmental [...]
Greg Tornberg,Vice President of Fresh Foods By Kim Sharrah,Editorial Assistant Greg Tornberg has returned to his roots at Hampton, Iowabased Kum & Go as the new vice president of fresh foods. Tornberg was recently promoted after returning to the company in 2004 from The Pantry Inc., when Kum & Go made a compelling offer to [...]
Back in the mid 1990s, during a time when they were considered to be at the pinnacle of “selling out,” the Rolling Stones began shilling the rights to its most famous tunes to the likes of McDonald’s and Microsoft for millions in advertising dollars. It’s a trend that has grown over the years and everyone [...]
Spend just a few minutes inside a QuikTrip convenience store and one thing becomes immediately clear: there seems to be a vibrant energy that is shared between customers and employees. This is no accident. The privately held Tulsa, Okla.-based chain has dedicatedvirtually all of its 49 years to cultivating this bond between customers and employees. [...]
Running Convenience Stores is a long and exciting journey, albeit fraught with Pot Holes, Winding Roads and Stormy Weather. If you’ll stay the course, you will still find that a small pot of gold awaits you!More… So tell me, what other long, rugged and expensive Trip would you make without using a “Road Map”?
Over the years, I’ve found that when I’ve matched the right product with the right occasion, I’ve been able to create increased sales with a much higher gross profit %. Not nearly as difficult as it sounds! Here’s an example: we place wool hats and brown jersey gloves on the counter, directly in front of [...]
So wrote the poet Bob Dylan! You may very well have a nice, clean, well merchandised Convenience Store and still not be doing the amount of business required. Just in case you missed the memo, the days of depending on Customers automatically coming to your nice store are over! Like Hansel and Gretel, the most [...]