As the Capitol Christmas Tree caravan travels through the state, it is fueling and refreshing at NACS members’ locations.

In addition to serving as a lead sponsor of the 2012 Capitol Christmas Tree, NACS and its members are donating the fuel and refreshments for the caravan as it travels on its 21-day trip from Colorado to Washington, D.C.

From Nov. 6-12, the tree and its support vehicles will be traveling through the state of Colorado. As the caravan travels through the state, it is fueling and refreshing at NACS members’ locations. NACS is paying for all of the fuel and has asked stores to submit invoices directly to avoid incurring debit or credit swipe fees. U.S. convenience stores paid $11.1 billion in credit card fees last year, of which the vast majority were swipe fees.

“Convenience stores are America’s fueling station, and who better to provide the fuel for the caravan than America’s convenience stores,” said NACS President and CEO Henry Armour. The stores will also supply the caravan with complimentary food and beverages, as well as other treats.

 You can follow the progress of the tree at capitolchristmastree2012.org/.

Here is where the caravan will be fueling each evening:

Nov. 5 – Meeker: Go-Fer Foods, 812 Market Street
Nov. 6 – Steamboat Springs: Kum & Go, 80 Anglers Spring
Nov. 7 – Glenwood Springs: Western Petroleum, 23 Mel Ray Road
Nov 8 – Grand Junction: Maverik, 2948 F. Road
Nov. 9 – Durango: Brennan Oil, 1220 Carbon Junction
Nov. 10 – Colorado Springs: Kum & Go, 1206 Interquest Parkway
Nov. 12 – Greeley: Agfinity Country Store, 1607 2nd Avenue
Nov. 12 – La Junta: Love’s, 308 E. 1st Street

The Capitol Christmas Tree caravan will arrive in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26 and the lighting ceremony will take place on Dec. 4.

C-Stores Deliver
The convenience store industry has deep roots in the state and in the communities it serves. Convenience stores in Colorado deliver jobs, tax revenues and, most of all, convenience. Here are some facts about the convenience store industry in the state:

There are 1,770 convenience stores in Colorado—one per every 2,890 people. These stores provided more than 21,200 jobs last year across the state. In the U.S. there are 148,126 convenience stores in the U.S.—one per every 2,100 people. Other channels have far fewer stores, such as supermarkets (32,924 stores), drug stores (38,526 stores) and dollar stores (22,782 stores).

Convenience stores are America’s fueling station. Convenience stores sell the majority of gasoline purchased in the country — approximately 80% of all fuel sold in the United States. A total of 1,616 convenience stores sell motor fuels in Colorado, accounting for 2.4 billion gallons in sales every year. Overall, 91% of all convenience stores in Colorado sell motor fuels.

Consumers are embracing convenience stores like never before. Cumulatively, convenience stores in Colorado serve 2 million customers every day. An average store selling fuel has around 1,130 customers per day, or more than 400,000 per year.

Convenience stores have robust sales. In Colorado, convenience stores had sales of approximately $9.8 billion in 2011. Overall, U.S. convenience stores had $681 billion in sales—more than the sales of the country’s restaurants ($632 billion) or supermarkets ($584 billion) and far greater than drug stores ($222 billion, not including prescriptions). Convenience store sales in 2011 were one out of every 22 dollars of the overall $15.04 trillion U.S. gross domestic product. The U.S. convenience store industry had sales that would rank it the 19th largest country by gross domestic product, between Turkey and Switzerland.

Convenience stores sell time. Convenience stores offer speed of service to time-starved consumers who want to get in and out of the store quickly. These shoppers recognize this channel of trade for its convenient locations, extended hours of operation, one-stop shopping, grab-and-go foodservice, variety of merchandise and fast transactions. A NACS speed metrics study found that it takes customers, on average, three minutes and 33 seconds from the time they leave their cars until the time they get back in their cars with a purchase.