Cannabidiol (CBD) products are becoming ubiquitous: from the gummies at customers’ local c-store to the CBD-laced peanut butter they considered buying online for their pets. It’s an increasingly prevalent trend that has wafted into dozens of industries and grown abundantly on retail shelves and online storefronts alike. In fact, in a recent CivicScience study of…

The Hispanic shopper is a critical buying group for both retailers and brands in the convenience channel. As the fastest-growing demographic group in America, and with a gross domestic product greater than $2.6 trillion, it is important for convenience retailers to attract and retain the Hispanic shopper, and it is crucial for brands to build…

When Chestnut Petroleum Distributors Inc. (CPD) CEO Mickey Jamal started the business with his wife Kay in 1981, he could not have foreseen the changes to come over the next four decades. “The first location we purchased was a repair shop that had two bays and a snack shop,” he said. “We offered some fresh…

People who achieve career success often talk about having had a mentor who guided their career. Whether the mentoring relationship evolves naturally or is a planned relationship, it provides a sustained link between the two individuals. Everyone needs help learning new skills and imagining things they could have never conceived of on their own. Yet…

With hard-to-predict influences in the form of regulations at all levels of government, supply disruption, newfangled products and shifting consumer behavior, merchandising the tobacco back bar may seem as tricky as ever to today’s retailers. Cigarette dollar sales have been relatively flat, rising just 0.1% for the 52 weeks — and slightly down 0.8% for…

On Aug. 26, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lowered the hammer on approximately 35,000 flavored e-cigarette items by issuing marketing denial orders (MDOs). The ruling prohibits interstate commerce for these products, resulting in convenience stores, vape shops and tobacco retailers immediately pulling them from store shelves. One week later, the FDA released approximately 300,000…

Last month, I predicted that potential tax increases by the Biden administration could alter the structure of mergers and acquisitions by increasing store leasing at the expense of real estate ownership transfers. In this follow-up article, I’ll look into my crystal ball and offer some thoughts on what the future might hold for new-to-industry (NTI)…

Evaluating potential new sites for the multi-unit operator can be a daunting task. The operator is constantly chasing several potential opportunities — whether through new builds or through acquisitions — only to have a few select sites come to fruition. Complicating the site selection process is generally a lack of an evaluation tool that can…

As the unanticipated impact of the pandemic magnified the need for online to offline (O2O) solutions and order ahead for convenience stores, so too will the pending cookie apocalypse by Google drive the business case for autonomous check-in and checkout. Verifiable O2O attribution from known users commands the highest trade promotion, placement and slotting fees,…

Recent peer-reviewed studies show that banning flavored tobacco products or flavored vaping products has significant negative public health impacts policymakers must consider in deciding the proper scope of regulation. Several studies indicate banning all flavored tobacco products actually increases the number of young people who smoke cigarettes. The first study, published in June 2020 in…