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Today's
Convenience Stores "The convenience store has become the gas station, quick-serve restaurant, bank, and water cooler of a mobile, time-hungry society," notes the National Association of Convenience Stores. Research data paints an impressive portrait of the industry: Convenience stores are abundant. The official industry store count undertaken in 2010 by for NACS tallied 146,341 convenience stores in the U.S Convenience stores are an economic force. The industry posted $575 billion in total sales in 2010, including $385 billion in motor fuels sales. Payroll tops $18 billion annually. The industry employs 1.6 million Americans. and payroll tops, an average of nearly 11 full-time and part-time employees per store. Convenience stores are small business. While headlines in the trade press are dominated by retail chains, the real news is the resilience of the little guy. Nationally, around 91,800, or 63 percent of the convenience stores counted by NACS, were categorized as single-store operators. In New York, more than half of NYACS retail member companies are single-store enterprises, many of them family-run. They remain the heart and soul of our industry Convenience stores are busy. On any given day, up to 100 million Americans visit a convenience store. Some locations serve a couple hundred customers per day, while others exceed 2,000. Americans purchased 115 billion gallons of gasoline, nearly 1.2 billion gallons of milk, and over 4 billion cups of coffee at convenience stores last year. About 60 percent of the gasoline sold in America is sold through convenience stores. With motor fuel sales accounting for 61 percent of the industry's total sales, it's plain to see why at least three-quarters of existing convenience stores now sell gasoline and 95 percent of new ones include fuel pumps. Convenience stores are laboratories. When it comes to introducing new products (such as flavored energy drinks), new packaging (plastic beer bottles), new technology (electronic age verification devices), and new services (pre-paid phone cards), C-stores are a vehicle for testing and fine-tuning initiatives that will shape the retail environment of tomorrow. Convenience stores are a community focal point. C-stores provide stability, connection, and continuity to the neighborhoods they serve. Never was that more apparent than September 12, 2001, the day after the terrorist atrocities. That morning, when Americans stopped at their favorite C-store on their way to work, it was their first face-to-face contact with neighbors since the attacks. When they saw that the store was open and operating as usual, with other customers coming in and out, in a small way it helped them start to regain a sense of routine. Just by being open for business on those difficult days, convenience stores helped give their customers comfort and confidence to resume their daily lives. Definitions of "convenience store" vary, but generally it is a retail establishment of under 5,000 square feet with primary emphasis on providing the public a convenient location to quickly purchase an assortment of food, gasoline, and other consumable products, usually open extended hours seven days a week. Our definition is looser than that. If you think you are a convenience store, then you qualify to call yourself a convenience store. But remember, your customers make the ultimate judgment of "convenience," voting with their feet and their wallets. One of our Board members divides the industry into two segments - convenience stores and "inconvenience" stores, and says customers know the difference. Whether
it's a country store on a rural road, a sprawling pumper off a freeway exit, or
a corner market in an urban neighborhood, convenience stores can be proud to be
part of a $575 billion industry that millions of Americans have come to rely on
as their "gas station, quick-serve restaurant, bank, water cooler" and
source of community connection. Home - About NYACS - Trade Show - The Industry - Membership - Contact Us - Issues - Tools
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