The Convenience Leaders Vision Group (CLVG) recently released its newest Vision Report titled “Industry Leaders on Academic Collaboration, 24/7 Operations, EVs, Labor, Tariffs and AI.” The report examines how convenience retailers are exploring university partnerships and navigating key industry issues.
The CLVG quarterly virtual meeting held on Aug. 27 was facilitated by Vision Group Network (VGN) Co-Founders Myra Kressner, CEO of Kressner Strategy Group and Roy Strasburger, CEO of StrasGlobal and president of Compliance Safe.
The meeting featured a presentation by Robert Hampton, VGN director of strategic growth and initiatives, seeking feedback on a VGN academic partnerships initiative. Members were also asked about several current and important topics related to the convenience retailing industry.
The report highlights that discussion, during which members shared insights on leveraging university partnerships for innovation and talent development while addressing critical operational endeavors including 24-hour operations, EV charging adoption, workforce management, tariff impacts and AI implementation.
The new report and full transcript are online as an interactive, searchable FlippingBook. The video recording for the presentation is also available.
Key takeaways in the report include:
- VGN Academic Partnerships: Hampton presented how universities can serve as engines of innovation and talent while creating structured collaboration opportunities through capstone projects and hackathons. Joe Sheetz, executive vice chairman for Sheetz, Inc, supports collaborating with students through an involved approach. He said, “The check-ins are very important to make sure they’re not going somewhere that just frankly doesn’t make sense, because you’re sort of renting very large brains that know a lot about technologies that most of us, at least at my age, don’t know about, but they really don’t understand the business at all. And you need both.”
- The 24-Hour Store Format: The consensus was clear that while safety remains a factor, the 24-hour store continues to serve both operational needs and customer expectations. “We have a large number of guests that come to us around 5 a.m. and then that’s the start of the breakfast. And if you’re not open 24 hours and you open late, even 10 minutes, and you’re not ready for the guests, you’re going to lose them because they’re not going to be able to count on you for being open,” said Mark Samuels, EVP of convenience retailing, Dash In/The Wills Group.
- EV Charging: Members reported mixed results with EV charging adoption, with usage steady at some sites but disappointing returns at others, raising questions about convenience stores as primary EV charging destinations. “The charging technology is catching up, with new technology now that would have the battery charged in less than an hour and people will be charging more and more at home. They’re already doing that. It’s really evident in the fact that transactions for EV chargers are decreasing,” said Joe Hamza, chief operating officer at Nouria Energy.
- Labor and Workforce: Companies are experiencing improved candidate quality and retention while adapting to AI’s impact on administrative roles and remote work preferences. Jonathan Polonsky, CEO of Plaid Pantry reported marked improvement in Portland, with turnover rates stabilizing and more experienced managers available longer sharing: “Over the last six months, the quality of candidate is much improved, and the number of applicants has increased.”
- Tariff Implications: Members noted the greatest impact from tariffs was felt on construction and equipment costs, with ongoing supply chain challenges affecting various products. “Weird things like pizza boxes have been such a challenge and such a problem. I don’t know if it’s necessarily tariff-related that’s causing the supply issues, but it’s just been kind of a repeated problem that we’ve really been trying to overcome for a while now,” said Laura Aufleger, president of OnCue.
- AI Implementation: Companies are gradually incorporating AI into operations with creative solutions including multilingual customer-support bots and predictive ordering tools, while recognizing the growing importance of prompt engineering. “I think the ability to ask good questions has never been more important than it is now,” said Annie Gauthier, CFO/Co-CEO, Y-Not Stop – St. Romain Oil.
Click here to take a look at the full report.
