Retailers stir up new business by targeting “new movers.” Since opening Smith’s Service Center (Lancaster, PA) in 1979, John Smith had tried advertising in the Yellow Pages and utilizing the Welcome Wagon service to ferret out new customers, but he’d experienced limited, immeasurable results. “There were seven similar businesses to mine in the Welcome Wagon…
no contact for meijer
Meijer Stores Inc. (Grand Rapids, MI) is the first supercenter chain to adda contactless card payment option at its gas pumps. The chain’s 150 stores thatsell gas will have more than 1,850 fueling positions upgraded with a Gilbarco(www.gilbarco.com) contactless card system. Theintegrated system is currently the only product certified by all three majorcard companies for…
mapping out a plan
When eyeballing the top line, retailers won’t confuse maps with tobacco or packaged beverages anytime soon. But this segment deserves the respect it might not be getting. Americans continue to amass near large citiesbut they also have begun to poolin many smaller, traditionally rural towns. Take Atlanta and Asheville, NC,for example. Since 2000, the 10-county…
flu shots at walmart
In-store health clinics are spreading like the common cold to a rising number of major drugstore and hypermarket chains, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., CVS Corp. and Rite Aid Corp., according to a Wall Street Journal report. These clinics offer routine medical services such as strep-throat tests, sports physicals and flu shots, charging $25 to $60…
chevron goes the extramile
Chevron Corp. (San Ramon, CA) has opened 43 ExtraMile Convenience Stores in the Seattle market. The stores feature a fresh look, healthier snacks and premium coffee, as well as easy access to chilled waters, energy drinks and more appetizing to-go food options. The ExtraMile stores opened throughout the city this summer to develop a potential…
dinner and a movie
By the end of the year, Redbox intends to have more than 1,000 of its DVD-dispensing kiosks in the U.S., most of them in McDonald
Decision Makers – October, 2005
Rutter’s Farm Stores (York, PA) has appointed Brian Matlock vice president of foodservice. A native of Monterey, CA, Matlock is a veteran of the convenience industry. Prior to joining Rutter’s, he served Worsley Cos. (Wilmington, NC)as category manager, fresh foods and proprietary beverages. From 1997 to 2004,Matlock worked in logistics, operations and merchandising for 7-Eleven…
simplifying contract management
Amphire Solutions (www.amphire.com ) has introduced Amphire Reconcile, a hosted, Webbased solution that gives retailers the ability to ensure compliance of contracts and rebates with trading partners and streamlines workflow for greater profitability. Trading partners using Reconcile would collaborate onlinein real timeto create, store, edit and manage contracted prices and rebates. Reconcile is centered on…
pumped about biofuels
Some people say the U.S. can free itself from foreign oil dependence if it buys from the Midwest rather than the Middle East. Will the industry allow that to happen? Back in February, a gasoline distributor told Karen Riley, vice president of operations for nine-store Jiffy Mini-Marts Inc. (Terre Haute, IN), about an alternative fuel…
gottahava new ad campaign
Wawa Inc. (Wawa, PA) has unveiled a new campaign “gottahava Wawa” for billboards, transit ads, radio and in-store promotions. Wawa hired Richards Group, which counts QSR chain Chick Fil-A and QuikTrip Inc. among its clients, to spearhead the campaign. The campaign started with billboard and transit advertising, then moved into radio and newspaper ads. Customers…