CITGO and Citi Renew Private Label Card Program

CITGO and Citi Renew Private Label Card Program

Since 1995, CITGO has offered payment products from Citi Retail Services, allowing CITGO locations to quickly and efficiently process purchases, and offering customers added convenience and flexibility. Citi Retail Services and CITGO Petroleum Corp. have announced a multi-year renewal of their long-standing U.S. private label credit card relationship. This extension is the latest in a [...]

7-Eleven Samples MiO ENERGY

7-Eleven Samples MiO ENERGY

Comedian Judah Friedlander introduces 7-Eleven customers to MiO Energy, a liquid water enhancer with an added energy benefit. Actor, comedian and beverage expert Judah Friedlander commandeered three Los Angeles 7-Eleven stores yesterday on behalf of MiO ENERGY, the new platform for the popular liquid water enhancer.  Friedlander, self-proclaimed beverage expert and newest fan of MiO [...]

Slurpee Drinks Arrive At Six Flags

Slurpee Drinks Arrive At Six Flags

This summer Six Flags guests can bring their 32-ounce Slurpee Six Flags Souvenir cup to a local 7-Eleven to refill their drink for only 99 cents. 7-Eleven and Six Flags Entertainment Corp. have announced a new partnership, where 7-Eleven’s Slurpee drink will be the Official Frozen Carbonated Beverage of Six Flags. Slurpee fans can now [...]

Weigel’s Announces New Director of Real Estate

Weigel’s Announces New Director of Real Estate

Chris Ooten joins the Weigel’s team. Weigel’s has hired Chris Ooten as its new director of real estate to expand Weigel’s retail footprint through new store site acquisition and the selling and leasing of company-owned property. “With a solid background in commercial development, Chris is poised to help expand and take Weigel’s to the next [...]

InformationWeek Recognizes DIGIOP

InformationWeek Recognizes DIGIOP

InformationWeek reports on Big Tech Ideas for retailers in 2012. InformationWeek Magazine has named DIGIOP’s video-enhanced business intelligence platform as one of the 10 Big Tech Ideas for Retailers for 2012. The magazine recognized DIGIOP for its ability to provide retailers with powerful tools to help “track store traffic and optimize every square foot” of [...]

Anheuser-Busch Announces Personnel Moves

Anheuser-Busch Announces Personnel Moves

Anheuser-Busch has announced personnel changes in its National Retail Sales organization, led by Chris Williams, vice president NRS. Effective April 2, 2012 Manny Zayas will become the vice president and team lead, Walmart, Sam’s Club and Walmart International. Zayas joined the organization last year as vice president of convenience and successfully merged the c-store and [...]

Mac’s Convenience Stores Using Social Media to Thwart Crime

Mac’s Convenience Stores Using Social Media to Thwart Crime

Mac’s Convenience Stores has added social media to its crime prevention tactics in its Canadian convenience stores. Mac’s Stores inCentral Canadahave developed an innovative approach to augment its formidable crime prevention measures by using social media to help identify criminals through Facebook and Twitter. According to The Chronicle-Journal, Mac’s will use these social media outlets [...]

Kroger Creates Director of Sustainability Position

Kroger Creates Director of Sustainability Position

Kroger Co., the Cincinnati-based operator of 791 convenience stores, 1,100 supermarket fueling stations and 2,435 grocery stores, has hired Suzanne Lindsay as director of sustainability, a new position leading the grocer’s sustainability initiatives. Lindsay, who previously created and led the sustainability efforts at PetSmart Inc., will lead Kroger’s Sustainability Leadership Team. “We have made substantial [...]

Shell Begins Gasoline Giveaway Promotion

Shell Begins Gasoline Giveaway Promotion

Shell is hosting several “No Other Gasoline Protects Better” Gasoline Giveaways across the nation to celebrate the launch of its new Shell Nitrogen Enriched Gasolines. With advanced engine technologies increasingly coming to the market and consumers keeping their cars longer, Shell recognizes it is becoming more important for consumers to protect their vehicles from lower-quality [...]

Energy Shot Sales  Expect to Grow in 2012

Energy Shot Sales Expect to Grow in 2012

Energy shots showed remarkable growth in 2011 and are on the same meteoric rise that energy drinks experienced four years ago, but they appeal to a different demographic. That was the uplifting news in a 2011 report on energy shots from Chicago-based research firm Mintel International. For example, the largest consumer group of 5-hour Energy, [...]

Customers Energized About Energy Drinks

Customers Energized About Energy Drinks

The energy drink market has been on an upward growth trajectory since 2010 and with the improvement in the economy is expected to continue on this positive growth path, according to Chicago-based research firm Mintel International. Energy drink sales were up about 16% in 2011 in convenience stores, as well as up about 16% across [...]

Customers Crave Premium and Value-Priced Teas

Customers Crave Premium and Value-Priced Teas

As customers seek more healthful beverages options, look for robust tea sales in 2012 and beyond. Packaged Facts projected that the retail tea market is set to grow from approximately 6.6% in 2012 to 8.7% in 2014, reaching $8.3 billion in that year. Tea was up 5.1% in 2011, according to Chicago-based research firm Mintel [...]

Building a Better Back Office

Building a Better Back Office

Back-office systems will continue to serve c-store operators better in 2012 and beyond. “The quality of point-of-sale (POS) software that is available now, and at lower prices, is changing the market,” said Rick Yost, operations manager for Dead River Co. in Bangor, Maine. “There are some great products out there moving into the clouds, where [...]

Navigating OTP’s Legal Battleground

Navigating OTP’s Legal Battleground

The prospects for OTP throughout 2012 are good, as growth remains strong. But a swelling number of revenue-strapped state legislatures continue to hungrily eye the category. “I think the category will continue to expand,” predicted Matt Hieb, category manager for Gate Petroleum, which operates 225 convenience stores in six Southeastern states.“The growth of the brands [...]

Milk Starts its Rebound at Retail

Milk Starts its Rebound at Retail

Look for a rise in consumer demand for milk, and an increased interest in flavored products in 2012. “We see flavors, particularly chocolate milk, as a key opportunity at convenience stores in 2012,” said Vivien Godfrey, CEO, MilkPEP. “Convenience stores are really over indexed in terms of flavored milk, so of all milk sold in [...]