Lighting for Less

Lighting for Less

Lamar Lighting, a manufacturer of stock and custom-made fluorescent lighting fixtures, has introduced Max-ER lighting. The Max-ER recessed direct/indirect revitalization luminaire features 89% luminaire efficiency, up to 97 Lumens per watt (LPW)1 and tool-less ballast access. The Max-ER is sure to be a hit with building owners and maintenance personnel alike, arriving straight from the [...]

Convenience Stores Hurt by Tobacco Taxed Ad Sales

Convenience Stores Hurt by Tobacco Taxed Ad Sales

Cigarettes continue to be the top in-store category based on sales dollars. On a monthly basis, the industry per store average over the past year was $39,127. However, its gross profit contribution slipped to 3.2% to $6,152 falling behind package beverages ($6,526), according to the National Association of Convenience Stores State of the Industry report. [...]

BP Flies High on Atlas Oil’s Flagpoles

BP Flies High on Atlas Oil’s Flagpoles

A visit to BP’s ampm stores a few years ago convinced Simon that BP’s established ampm brand—and its decision to divest itself of stores in the Midwest—was an opportunity for Atlas to acquire stores for its own dealers, as well as operate more stores on its own. In December 2007, Atlas forged an alliance with [...]

Simon Says: Refine Your Retail

Simon Says: Refine Your Retail

Don Glenn and Jake Leatherman had just wrapped up three store visits to Atlas Oil customers in southern Michigan when their conversation turned from coffee to a slightly more slippery substance: petroleum. “Four dollars,” said Glenn, director of retail sales at Taylor, Mich.-based fuel distributor Atlas. “That’s where everybody’s world changed.” Leatherman, Atlas’ senior retail [...]

Concerns Abound Over Food Costs

Concerns Abound Over Food Costs

In today’s struggling economy, more than half (58%) of U.S. consumers are “very concerned” about rising food prices, The Nielsen Co. found in a new survey on consumer purchasing trends. As consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers and retailers employ options to manage abnormally high cost increases due to raw material and other expenditures, consumers voiced [...]

Top 10 Beer Brands by Sales

Top 10 Beer Brands by Sales

TOP 10 BEER BRANDS Dollar Sales Case Sales Average Case Price Bud Light $3,823,988,000 196,964,800 $19.41 Budweiser $1,665,968,000 86,153,840 $19.34 Miller Lite $1,058,876,000 54,739,080 $19.34 Coors Light $1,032,452,000 53,347,550 $19.35 Natural Light $731,114,600 53,353,600 $13.70 Busch Light $425,441,900 31,412,000 $13.54 Busch $420,969,600 30,295,220 $13.90 Miller High Life $283,124,300 19,965,860 $14.18 Michelob Ultra Light $244,068,600 10,588,680 [...]

A Legend Among Us

A Legend Among Us

Growing up during the Great Depression, Bob Seng learned to appreciate hard work, dedication and the value of an honest day’s work. It was those principles that guided him during his nearly 20-year career at Shell Oil, which began 60 years ago in 1949. For Seng, now a spry 85 years young, the experience at [...]

Ethnic Flair Drives Roller Grill

Ethnic Flair Drives Roller Grill

My, how the roller grill continues to evolve. No longer visited exclusively by customers hungry for a hot dog, roller grills now boast a growing variety of ethnic foods nationwide, featuring everything from Mexican tortas to pork-filled Chinese steamed buns to breadsticks stuffed with jalapeno peppers and cheese. “We brought egg rolls and tornados into [...]

Focused on the Future

Focused on the Future

If it has mechanical parts or it’s sown from a seed, Nevada resident Donald Bently can probably enhance its performance or improve its propensity for growth. To shorten a very long story, in fact, this accomplished inventor and engineer has chiseled himself some commanding niches in the most curious and seemingly disparate of industries: pressurized [...]

Establishing the Right Foodservice Brand

Establishing the Right Foodservice Brand

There are few sure things in business. But partnering with an established foodservice brand could be about as close as one can get. That’s because proven concepts offer so much, such as built-in brand equity, customer loyalty, honed or even turnkey systems with shorter learning curves, proven menus and recipes, pre-existing designs and equipment packages [...]

Redbox Heads To 7-Eleven

Redbox Heads To 7-Eleven

An instant video-rental concept is moving into a leading c-store chain after storming the  grocery channel. Redbox is spreading into 7-Eleven stores nationwide as it continues its focus on the c-store market. Starting this month and continuing through next year, Redbox will be installing its DVD rental machines into 2,600 7-Eleven locations nationwide, boosting its [...]

Casey’s Intros New Store

Casey’s Intros New Store

In keeping with a plan outlined in 2008, Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores is rolling out expanded store designs. Casey’s executives said that roughly six stores with the new design are open or nearing completion, and the company hopes to finish a total of 20 by the end of April. The new ‘O’ floor plan [...]

Pilot Testing Electronic Smokeless Products

Pilot Testing Electronic Smokeless Products

In an effort to boost sales in the smokeless category, Pilot convenience stores in the Knoxville, Tenn., market are testing the Vegas E-cigar, a product manufactured by Minneapolis-based Ruyan America Inc. that looks and feels like a premium cigar, but uses a microchip and nicotine-infused liquid to produce a vapor that provides its user with [...]

Step One: Knowing Your PCI Merchant Level

Step One: Knowing Your PCI Merchant Level

Merchant Levels are designated by the PCI Standard as follows: Level 1: Any merchant, regardless of acceptance channel, processing over 6 million Visa transactions per year; that has suffered a hack or an attack that resulted in an account data compromise; that Visa, at its sole discretion, determines should meet the Level 1 merchant requirements [...]

EZ Energy Acquires 42 Stations

EZ Energy Acquires 42 Stations

EZ Energy USA Inc., the U.S. entity of Israeli-based EZ Energy Ltd., has signed a contract to acquire 42 gas stations in the U.S. and all related inventory—as well as four lots—for a reported $32.6 million. When the deal is closed, EZ Energy will own 93 stores that sell approximately 160 million gallons of gas [...]