Convenience store chains, like most retailers, pay close attention to transaction counts and sales per customer. Until recently, getting to know your customers as individuals might have seemed costly and out of reach for all but the largest of companies. Having the opportunity to communicate with your customers and getting to know their friends and [...]
More and more operators are embracing bakery production and merchandising challenges to create fresh-baked opportunities. By Heather Henstock, Contributing Editor. With tobacco sales in decline and gasoline prices volatile, convenience stores are looking to other categories to draw more customers and improve profitability. Foodservice in its varied forms—from simply hot coffee and frozen beverages to [...]
QuikTrip and independent retailers join XYIENCE in text message-based summer promotion. XYIENCE, maker of Xenergy, the official energy drink of the UFC, is teaming up with its retailers to launch a series of text message-based summer sweepstakes, including one with QuikTrip (QT) Convenience Stores and a second with hundreds of independent convenience stores throughout the [...]
Thanks to a surge of new products focused on ethnic diversity, the roller grill—the original anchor for most convenience store hot food programs—is hotter than ever before. And the one thing c-store operators like and appreciate most about roller grills is that you hardly notice they’re there. Grills don’t take up much room and can [...]
A clean, consistent, upscale image and outstanding service isn’t enough to distinguish your brand anymore—it’s the bare minimum to stay competitive. By Jim Callahan. It’s February and I’m not quite sure about the official name for this dismal season, but this much is certain: I prefer the dog days of summer. This winter has seen [...]
The stagnant economy and hefty cigarette taxes have more c-store chains adding extra roller grill items to provide a greater array of hot food options at a value price. By Howard Riell, Associate Editor. Yes, the number of food items that can be prepared on roller grills—hot dogs, corn dogs, taquitos, stuffed breadsticks, kielbasa, grilled [...]
“Those two stores no longer suited our long-term needs,” QuikTrip Spokesperson says. QuikTrip stores in O’Fallon, Ill., and Cahokia, Ill., are set to be converted to MotoMart gas stations and convenience stores, which are owned by Belleville, Ill.-based FKG Oil Co., the Belleville News-Democrat reported. QuikTrip Spokesperson Mike Thornbrugh told the Belleville News-Democrat that while [...]
Tulsa, Okla.-based convenience store chain QuikTrip is planning to enter South Carolina with a new store at 489 W. Main St., positioning itself for a major entrance into South Carolina, The Spartanburg, S.C. Herald-Journal reported. The 5,000-square-foot Spartanburg store will be one of the first QuikTrips in the state when it opens in late 2011. [...]
Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores (Love’s) is celebrating its 10th consecutive year on Forbes magazine’s annual list of the nation’s largest privately held companies. The Oklahoma City, Okla.-based operator of convenience stores and travel centers, which debuted in the 2000 Forbes list at No. 446, now ranks as No. 18 among private U.S. companies [...]
Tulsa-based QuikTrip is selling its five Springfield, Mo.-based convenience stores, The Springfield, Mo. News Ledger reported. QuikTrip is focusing its efforts on very large metropolitan markets, and Springfield no longer fits the company’s plans, noted spokesman Mike Thornbrugh. “It’s accurate that the stores ultimately will be sold,” he told the News Ledger. “But there is [...]
Winning Over CPG Customers According to a new study commissioned by MEI Computer Technology Group Inc., there is an increased emphasis on improving trade promotion effectiveness, as consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers look to bolster the value and return on their trade spend, and capture wallet share from consumers. Despite the current climate, [...]
QuikTrip is expanding its QuikTrip Rewards Debit Card program, using Tempo’s affinity debit card platform and re-issuing the cards with Tempo partner First Bank & Trust of Brookings, S.D., part of Fishback Financial Corp. Tempo-powered affinity debit cards link to consumers’ existing checking accounts and can be used everywhere Discover cards are accepted. The QuikTrip [...]
There’s little doubt that bakeries are big. Bakeries, pastry shops and bagel sellers are growing at a rate of 5%, according to AnythingResearch.com. When launching a bakery program, convenience store retailers are urged to start with an in-depth market study that profiles the target customer base, current sales in the market area for the product [...]
Impulse purchases of sodas, Hershey bars and snacks are on the upswing at U.S. convenience stores, a sign the economy and consumer confidence might slowly be turning around, Bloomberg.com reported. The decline in soda sales at convenience stores slowed last quarter for the first time in at least a year, according to PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, [...]
An introspective look at life through the fading eyes of a genius. As our 28 year old daughter lay ill in Emory University Hospital, a wonderful second-generation Spanish surgeon knelt down and held my wife’s hands to share words of wisdom he learned from his father. He imparted to us what a great privilege it [...]