The Temple, Texas distributor hosts the show annually to bring its retailer and supplier partners together to help educate marketers on current industry trends and make them aware of the new products they could expect to see in the coming months. This year’s show went a step further. In addition to national and regional vendors…
Kum & Go Stores on the Auction Block
Kum & Go LLC, of West Des Moines, Iowa, has retained The Energy Exchange of Chicago to coordinate a sealed bid auction for 21 Kum & Go locations that don’t align with the company’s future plans, the company said. The sealed bid auction will include 12 locations in Iowa, three in South Dakota, two in…
No Mystery Here: Speedway Voted Best Customer Service
It’s impossible to know if the pool of customers hired by market research firm Corporate Research International (CRI) would have pegged Speedway SuperAmerica LLC as the leader in customer service five years ago. The Enon, Ohio-based marketer wasn’t even among the handful of convenience store chains whose customer service was evaluated quarterly by the research…
Hinsdale’s Friendly Faces
Whether they’re spending $2 or $250,000, customers descending on the 200 block of East Ogden Ave. in Hinsdale, Ill., are likely to require some fundamental features in the products they purchase. It doesn’t matter if it’s a turkey on rye from Hinsdale Shell Food Mart at 210 East Ogden Ave. or a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder…
Saluting Supplier Partners
Retailers may be on the front lines every day, but the presence of their supplier partners is palpable. It can be seen and felt in the marketing and merchandising found at the store level and in the intricate planograms category managers use to set their stores. To get a better feel for the supplier companies…
Couche-Tard Acquires Illinois Stores
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., Convenience Store Decisions 2007 Convenience Store Chain of the Year, reached a deal through its Mac’s Convenience Stores subsidiary to acquire 15 units in central Illinois from Speedway SuperAmerica. The deal is expected close by the end of April. Couche-Tard, which has been rumored to be nearing a much larger deal that…
CHS to Acquire Zip Trip
CHS Inc. said it reached a deal to acquire 33 Zip Trip convenience stores in the Spokane, Wash. area, owned in part by Jopo Inc. and Jo-By Enterprises LLC. Financial terms were not disclosed. All of the units will be rebranded under the Cenex retail brand this summer. The purchase will make Spokane the largest…
Stepping into Spring and Springing into Summer
I recently read a great quote attributed to a one time door-to-door sales person and lately more recognizable as founder of the billion-dollar company that bears her name, Mary Kay Cosmetics. Mary Kay Ash said, "Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as…
Another Satisfied Customer
On a recent tour of convenience stores in the Northeast, I came across an outstanding Mobil store in northern Maine. What caught my attention at this particular store was the clerk who immediately greeted me and told me about the store’s foodservice special that day, a homemade Boston chowder. That I was greeted was not…
Whipping Up a Retail Destination
Big box operators and supermarkets seem to dominate the Texas retail landscape. But while most of those stores focus on getting bigger, some convenience operators are finding that connecting with the consumers on a personal level is better. Consider Whip In, a dynamic marketer based in Austin, Texas. It doesn’t have the size and real…