Convenience stores continue to play an important role in raising much-needed funds in times of trouble. By: Erin Rigik, Associate Editor. When disaster strikes, convenience stores are often at their best stepping up to support the community. But what makes the industry so special is that it often continues to give back long after the [...]
The Pantry Inc. partnered with Oak Grove Elementary in Cary, N.C. last month, to help students break a Guinness World Record for the “Most People Sport Stacking at Multiple Locations in One Day.” In all, more than 314,000 sport stackers participated in the Nov. 18 event across the globe. The Southeastern convenience store chain, with [...]
During the month of September, Chevron’s Fuel Your School promotion, with the help of California drivers, raised $858,445 for schools in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. To participate, customers simply had to fill up their gas tanks at participating Chevron stations in Alameda or Contra Costa between Sept. 1 and Sept. 30. Chevron then donated [...]
Inc. magazine has revealed its fourth annual Inc. 5000 list, an exclusive ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. “The leaders of the companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 have figured out how to grow their businesses during the longest recession since the Great Depression,” said Inc. President Bob LaPointe. “The 2010 Inc. 5000 showcases [...]
The Food Channel has released its top 10 snack trends, one of its regular trend reports prepared in conjunction with CultureWaves, Mintel International and the International Food Futurists. “These trends are meant to inspire your back-to-school snacking,” said Kay Logsdon, editor-in-chief of The Food Channel. “But they also show how people are eating today, with [...]
Now more than ever convenience store executives recognize that both survival and prosperity depend on their ability to adapt to changing customer preferences and the evolving business environment. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the changing role of convenience stores as a foodservice provider for budget-conscious, time-sensitive consumers that have scaled back on restaurant [...]
Convenience store retailers are already dealing with tobacco taxes, PCI deadlines and encroaching competition. Now, if officials in Mesa, Ariz. get their way, operators within the city limits will be forced to invest in security measures aimed at reducing incidents of theft. The proposed mandate, aimed at convenience stores measuring less than 7,500 square feet, [...]
Folk Oil’s PS Food Marts chain went to bat for hunger in Michigan and Ohio and raised more than $50,000 for local charities in just two short weeks. From March 15-31 PS Food Mart employees at the chain’s 29 stores encouraged customers and vendors to purchase paper hearts as part of its “Fight Hunger. Give [...]
While stopping for gas one day, two waste management interns working for the city of Lexington, Ky., pondered how much garbage could be recycled from cars if locations, such as gas stations, made it more convenient to recycle. The interns, Elizabeth Rebmann and Natalie Cooke, pitched their idea for such a recycling program to Bruce [...]
Wi-Fi is a trendy offering customers are clamoring for, and it’s starting to appear at more c-store locations, including BP, Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes and Rutter’s Farm Stores, especially as chains expand their foodservice programs and look for new ways to pull foot traffic into the store. Coffee shops, such as Starbucks have long [...]
As all convenience store chains look for innovative ways to drive sales as tobacco and gas margins decline, they might take note from an unlikely teacher—a small town store in Grandy, Minn., whose unique offerings are going to new lengths to meet consumer demands. Though only 1,100 square feet, “The Shack on 65” packs the [...]
C-stores are known for providing a myriad of services, but could your stores house customers for the night if the weather turned bad? Coffee Cup Fuel Stops, which operates eight 24-hour locations in the Dakotas and Wyoming, is no stranger to hosting overnight guests at its Summit, S.D. location, where winter storms have been known [...]
Customers are standing behind their favorite convenience store employee, Cody, a chocolate Labrador recently banned from his post at a BP convenience store in Clearwater, Fla., by the state’s Department of Agriculture. Cody had long accompanied store-owner Karim Mansour to the store a couple times a week, except during a short period of time when [...]
The Kentucky Grocers Association and Kentucky Association of Convenience Stores (KGA/KACS) honored Flatwoods, Ky.-based Super Quik Inc. and its president G. Lynn Rice with the 2009 Kentucky Convenience Store of the Year last month. Rice accepted the award on behalf of all the Super Quik employees at KGA/KACS’s annual meeting. “It’s nice to be recognized [...]
Q Stop convenience stores was honored with the Green Idea Group’s Green Achievement Award for reducing electric power use and costs by 64% after installing a new canopy lighting system at its store in O’Fallon, Mo. Q Stop, which operates six stores in the St. Louis metro area and is owned by Jones Oil Co., [...]