There’s a new type of tobacco customer shopping at convenience stores — one who is more willing to cross over between product families. For example, category managers report smokeless tobacco users now like to mix in oral nicotine products, especially pouches. “The growth in oral tobacco-derived nicotine appears to be coming from multiple categories, which…

Spicewood, Texas-based Texas Born (TXB), with more than 47 stores in Texas and Oklahoma, began its transition from the Kwik Chek brand mid-pandemic and is working to update each of its sites, while also building new-to-industry stores. What really sets this company apart is its deep commitment to quality foodservice, with a focus on freshness…

Coffee is the fuel that many U.S. consumers turn to daily to get the day started, keep it going – and sometimes to escape from it. Wherever there is coffee, coffee-loving consumers will find it. They prepare and drink coffee at home, buy it from coffeehouses, restaurants, foodservice outlets, convenience and grocery stores, and vending…

Summer means hot weather and thirsty customers looking to cool down and enjoy the season. It’s prime time to move non-alcoholic beverages while those seasonal customers are in the c-store. These are our top tips for boosting summer beverage sales. 1. Stock Variety Today’s customers want options. To position your store as a destination for…

The pandemic has impacted each daypart differently, and while c-stores remained open, visits dipped as consumers stayed home. As the country reopens, visits are up, but further recovery will depend on consumers returning to workplaces and schools this fall. “Guest behavior’s really hard to isolate right now because there are so many moving variables,” said…

Colonial Group, the parent company of Savannah, Ga.-based Enmarket convenience stores, is celebrating its 100th anniversary. The company’s longevity is a testament to its ability to recognize and adapt to industry shifts across a century that has seen dynamic evolution in the convenience and petroleum industry. Today, Enmarket is growing through new builds and acquisitions,…

Entrepreneur Johnathan Lacy went about becoming a 7-Eleven franchisee the old-fashioned way: hard work, followed by more hard work — no outside investors. Thirty-year-old Lacy, who studied finance at Cal Poly Pomona, a university in Pomona, Calif., chose the convenience store industry because he liked the business model. “I have a little bit of experience…

As I pen this column, the dog days of summer are beginning, and 2021 is already half over. Given these past six months, it seems safe to say that the early days of the Obama administration were a cakewalk versus the political headwinds our industry now faces. The latest challenge involves underground storage tanks (USTs)…

The financial gap in paying for college is still apparent. In keeping with that theme, the National Advisory Group (NAG) and the Young Executives Organization (YEO) created a scholarship fund for employees and children of NAG member companies. The 2021 NAG Scholarship is named after John MacDougall, who was a longtime supporter of the association…

Kenneth E. McMullen, CEO of Weigel’s, passed away unexpectedly on July 29. He was 73. Under McMullen’s leadership, Weigel’s added 49 convenience stores and developed its own bakery. His tenure and legacy at Weigel’s lasted 40 tremendous years and the chain now has 70 stores. “Ken was like a brother to me”, said Bill Weigel…