Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the U.S. subsidiary of mega UK retailer Tesco, unveiled plans to bring its retail concept to California’s Bay Area. Tim Mason, Fresh & Easy’s chief executive, disclosed the locations of the company’s first 18 store sites in Northern California, which will begin opening in 2009. Fresh & Easy currently has [...]
White Hen Pantry has introduced a prototype in Northborough, Mass., that shatters the mold of its previous convenience offering. The 3,200-square-foot store offers some elements of traditional convenience stores, but goes upscale with a full-service cafe and deli, fresh foods, baked goods and a wide assortment of healthier snack with a heavy emphasis on natural, [...]
A Loaf ‘N Jug convenience store in Walensburg, Colo., has had its liquor license suspended after state authorities allegedly saw an employee sell beer to an 18-year-old. During routine compliance checks in October, the state Liquor Enforcement Division sent an under-aged person into 13 restaurants, bars, liquor and convenience stores in Huerfano County to try [...]
Speedway SuperAmerica LLC reached a deal with RBS Lynk, the U.S. payment processing arm of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, to provide credit card processing to its 1,600 gasoline and convenience stores. Under terms of the agreement, RBS Lynk will initially provide in-store and pay-at-the-pump credit card processing system wide for Speedway, to be [...]
Owners of more than 60 AmeriStop convenience store franchises across Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky are waiting for a Thursday court hearing that could determine the future of their businesses. In November, Petro Acquisitions Inc., the parent company of the AmeriStop chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with debt estimated between $1 million and $100 million, [...]
Houchens Industries, Bowling Green, Ky., has signed a letter of intent to purchase Browning Oil, operator of 14 Shell gas stations and convenience stores. Terms of the deal were not disclosed and the transaction will close in March, according to David Browning, president of Browning Oil. “I intend to pursue other business interests,” Browning told [...]
Foodservice disposables demand in the U.S. is projected to increase 3.8% annually to $16.6 billion in 2011. Growth will be fueled by rising disposable personal income and increased spending for food eaten or prepared away from home. Such spending will reflect consumer willingness to pay for convenience, along with interest in more sophisticated food choices. [...]
Susser Holdings Corp., the parent company of more than 500 Stripes convenience stores in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, has received $640,000 in tax incentives from the Corpus Christi Regional Economic Development Corp. and the city’s Business and Job Development Corp. With the Corpus Christi, Texas-based company’s recent acquisition of Town & Country Food Stores, [...]
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, the U.S. unit of Britain’s biggest grocery retailer, plans to open four stores in the Sacramento area, according to liquor license applications with the state. The Sacramento locations named in the filings include 3311 Northgate Blvd. and 3615 Bradshaw Road. Two Folsom sites, 25000 Blue Ravine Road and 9522 Greenback [...]
New York State Assemblyman David R. Townsend Jr. joined convenience store operators in New York in announcing legal action to compel the Spitzer administration to uphold the state law that requires collection of state taxes on Native American sales of cigarettes and gasoline to non-Native American New Yorkers. Plaintiffs in the tax fairness lawsuit are [...]
The sweet science of obtaining a better deal than was offered! To compete with the big chains more effectively, you’ve got to be able to buy better, which is obviously much more difficult for a smaller chain, even more so for the single store operator. But in reality it’s much easier than you might think
Kum & Go L.C., operator of more than 430 convenience stores in 12 states, has launched Napa Creek Cabernet Sauvignon and Sea Ridge Merlot wines to its long list of private-label offerings. The wines are sold exclusively at participating Kum & Go stores. Kum & Go set out last year to provide its customers a [...]
Paid sabbaticals for long-timers and bonuses for part-timers helped make QuikTrip Corp. one of the nation’s top employers again this year. The Tulsa, Okla.-based convenience store chain ranked 28th in its sixth straight appearance on Fortune magazine’s "100 Best Companies To Work for" list, which was released this week. "We are honored to receive this [...]
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., Convenience Store Decisions 2007 Chain of the Year, announced a dramatic realignment of it retail business that creates two new business units in the U.S. These units will be identified as the Southwest Division to be based in Dallas and will be comprised of the states of Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and New [...]
Neighborhood Convenience Inc., the Gloucester, Va.-based convenience store group operating the Little Sue chain, reached a deal to sell seven stores to 7-Eleven Inc., in a deal brokered by Matrix Capital. All of the stores, which sell Exxon fuels, will be rebranded to 7-Eleven over the next few months, the companies said. Founded in 1972, [...]