Health and Beauty Care (HBC) has been known to create more pain for c-store operators than it relieves for their customers. Managing it well—knowing the trends, keeping up with new products and line extensions, establishing workable price points and merchandising it carefully—is a precarious balancing act. The trend today is smaller, both for product packaging…

After buying a soda, milk, apple juice, a loaf of bread, paper plates, dishwashing detergent and a bagel, the typical c-store customer might—and that’s a big might—purchase a bottle of aspirin. Make no mistake about it: Health and beauty care in c-stores is akin to an unruly stepchild when it comes to in-store categories. Up…

Make room for the new kid on the block: Energy shots, those concentrated versions of energy drinks that are beginning to mirror the high sales figures of their parent product. Granted, some customers buy energy shots to add to their energy drink in a kind of shot-and-chaser strategy. But for an increasing number of buyers,…

TOP PERFORMERS BIC Corp. Lil’ Drug Store Products Inc. Novelty Inc. HONORABLE MENTIONS Convenience Valet Procter & Gamble The 63 key decision makers in the HBC and general merchandise segment identified BIC Corp., Lil’ Drug Store Products Inc. and Novelty Inc. as the category’s top performers. Honorable Mentions include Convenience Valet and Procter & Gamble.…