It all began to take place on April 23, 2008 on US Airways flight #797 as I was headed to the Tobacco Plus Expo 08 in Las Vegas. As usual I was excited to explore new products and programs at this year’s show, and as I would learn, the show would not disappoint. The night…
Retailers Salute Their Leading Suppliers
Despite the much-ballyhooed growth of chains like Walgreens, Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts and Wal-Mart, it is convenience stores that remain an important daily stop for the nation’s busy consumers. As a result, convenience stores represent a powerful sales opportunity for product and service supplier companies, CSD set out to find the industry’s top performers as identified…
Cigarettes
TOP PERFORMERS Philip Morris USA R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Lorillard Tobacco Co. HONORABLE MENTIONS Commonwealth Brands Inc. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. No single category has been as important to the convenience store industry over the years as cigarettes. The 86 retailers to participate in the CSD Brand Preference Study reported a total of $5…
Cigars & Smokeless Tobacco
TOP PERFORMERS USST Inc. Swisher International Inc. Conwood Sales Co. HONORABLE MENTIONS Swedish Match John Middleton Inc. Altadis USA Offering smokers new alternatives has been a stepping stone for huge growth in the OTP segment. The category as a whole has been showing big numbers, but MST, in particular, has been leading a bold charge…
Industry Takes Action Against Native Americans in N.Y.
For more than 20 years New York governors refused to protect legitimate convenience store owners from the tax-free sales of gasoline and tobacco by Native Americans. Now they’ll have to answer for their inaction. New York State Assemblyman David Townsend joined convenience store operators in New York in announcing legal action to compel the Spitzer…
A [Private] Affair
More. That’s what convenience store customers can expect to see of private-label brands–and what convenience store operators need to do in order to make those brands successful. The costs are too low, opportunities to build brand equity and loyalty too high, quality is rising too quickly and the benefits are too numerous for retailers with…
Convenience Store Retailers Stepping Up Tobacco Lobbying Efforts
States are effectively cutting their own throats by continually hiking excise taxes on tobacco products–chasing away revenue, encouraging criminal behavior and unfairly penalizing smokers and retailers–and it’s up to the c-store industry to help them understand that. In fact many operators and state associations already are fighting the good fight by lobbying legislators, educating consumers,…
United They Stand
United El Segundo Inc. Retail arm: United Oil Co. Primary areas of operation: Owns and operates convenience stores in Southern California in addition to maintaining a vast dealer-operated network and a chain of car washes. Long-range plans: Increasing market share while growing store count through new-to-market stores and acquisitions. Established: 1948 Net sales (2006): $1.27…
Cigars And Moist Smokeless Drive Revenues Even With Concerns Over Tobacco Taxation
The long-predicted demise of cigarettes has not come to fruition, nor is it likely to. But the effect of tobacco taxation and smoking restrictions has made it much more difficult to rely on cigarette sales as the primary category for driving in-store profitability. But don’t read that to mean tobacco is suffering. Retailers are reporting…
Boston Stores To Limit Tobacco Ads
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino is urging convenience stores, gas stations and liquor stores to adhere to city regulations limiting the advertising of tobacco products to minors. "We’ve done a great job in Boston of getting these stores to comply with the law forbidding the sale of tobacco products to minors," Mayor Menino said during a…