Canastota, N.Y.-based Nice N Easy Grocery Shoppes knows how to make an entrance. Just before it opened its Taft Road location—the 85th store in the chain and the fifth ground-up location with the new store design introduced more than a year ago—store personnel visited about 125 local businesses with “welcome baskets.” “We got a list…

Technological advances in Asia could have far-reaching implications on the U.S. convenience industry, from cell phone payment to RFID to the networked store. It’s one thing when your grandmother, who still favors the rotary telephone, is impressed by technology. It’s another when it’s Scott Hartman. President of Rutter’s Farm Stores, a 50-unit chain based in…

Retailers, suppliers and distributors by the dozens stepped up to aid victims of Hurricane Katrina. Nearly 10 months later, many continue to help. By Ross Markman, Retail Relations Editor Hurricane Katrina may have struck New Orleans and the nearby Gulf Coast region, but there's no doubt that the deadliest natural disaster in U.S. history rippled…

Operators have lost a major profit center now that the governor has banned the popular TouchPlay machines. By Ross Markman, Retail Relations Editor Eight miles from the tiny town of Larchwood, Iowa (pop. 788), Fran Zuraff faces a major competitor for customer dollars—South Dakota. Competition wasn’t quite as stiff until recent months, when Zuraff and…

It takes more than great food to stand out from the competition. By Mark Mayberry Your customers can go a million places to eat. It may be difficult to stand out from the competition, but it’s certainly not impossible. While in St. Paul, Minn., recently, I saw a couple of signs that helped set two…

Company president John MacDougall announces major staff changes as he turns is attention to real estate development. John MacDougall is on a first-name basis with all of his employees and a great many of his customers, too. Well, when customers see him in his Nice N Easy stores and recognize him from the chain’s radio…

Higher operating costs and lower margins are forcing marketers to boost profitability in other areas of the store. The convenience industry is under constant pressure from an ever-changing retail environment. This requires the constant need for marketers to refine store practices for driving new business, and to expand the consumer purchase of products beyond cigarettes…

John Lofstock, Editor These are strange days at Duke and Duchess Shoppes (Columbus, OH) asmore and more customers at its Ohio stores are giving employees the finger.And it's not because prices are too high or lines are too long. Rather, it'sa result of the chain's installation of cutting-edge biometric technology. Duke and Duchess, which operates…

Convenience store owners used to measuring success in terms of how much greenthey have in the register are going to have to broaden their horizons just alittle bit as the Department of the Treasury announced plans to redesign the$10 bill to include a kaleidoscope of new colors including orange, red, yellowand copper. The new notes…

With the holidays right around the corner, San Antonio, TX-based ValeroEnergy Corp. has introduced several new in participating Valero Shamrock CornerStores, making holiday shopping that much more convenient for customers. Theproducts include a new line of Texas-themed music CDs, a variety of popularvideo games and a selection of blockbuster movies. In nearly 600 of its…