Just two months since a $1 tax was tacked onto cigarette packs in Florida on July 1, cigarette sales have plummeted and smokers are driving into neighboring states to avoid the extra expense, Florida Today reported. According to the latest figures from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, cigarette pack sales plunged…
Kum & Go Awards Summer of 59 Grand Prize
Kum & Go has awarded the $50,000 grand prize of its Summer of ’59 promotion to Russell Stutzman of Grimes, Iowa. Kum & Go, which operates more than 428 convenience stores in 12 states celebrated its 50th anniversary this summer by offering customers the chance to win more than $100,000. Kum & Go…
Shell Fuels Customer Passion with New Promotion
Now customers can enter to win Shell V-Power premium gas for a year and a 2010 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy Lo Motorcycle through the Shell V-Power “Fuel My Passion” Contest and Sweepstakes. Shell knows customers take pride in their vehicles, and now the company is inviting them to share stories about that passion and…
Hitting the Customers’ “Sweet Spot”
The ability to offer outstanding service remains the industry’s biggest asset. Do whatever it takes to exceed expectations. Doing a late night check on our new Huddle House restaurant attached to a quite awesome BP travel center, I arrived just in time to tackle the concerns of a pretty tough and very tired truck driver…
Aztex C-store in Clay County First to Add Alcohol
Eight days after Clay County, N.C. voters approved alcohol sales, Hayesville Aztex convenience store welcomed its first beer shipment, making the store the first to sell beer locally in 60 years, the Clay County Press reported. The town had been dry since 1949. By the time the Board of Election certified the…
Sheetz Acquires Property in West Virginia
Jenkins Chrysler is selling its Keyser, W.Va., dealership to consolidate sales in LaVale, Md., and Sheetz is buying the property on U.S. 220 south of the city to develop a new and larger convenience store, Mineral-Daily News Tribune reported. “We were in a unique position with two stores less than 25 miles apart,”…
65 Stations in Connecticut Converting to BP Brand
In central Connecticut 65 gasoline stations owned by Green Valley Oil, a private company in Rhode Island, are being converted to the BP brand, the Hartford Courant reported. The move marks one of the largest conversions of its kind in the state. All but 11 of the stations being switched over are…
Exxon Sells 25 Hampton Roads Stations
Exxon Mobil Corp. is selling its 25 service stations in Hampton Roads as part of the company’s shift away from owning and operating retail locations, the Virginian-Pilot reported. Exxon has been turning over its gasoline retailing to independent owners and operators because of competition in gasoline retailing and low barriers to entry, said…
Retail Gasoline Prices Head Higher in New York Market
By Brian L. Milne, Refined Fuels Editor for Telvent DTN Retail gasoline prices will be mixed across the country’s major metropolitan markets during the week leading up to a late Labor Day, with the holiday weekend the traditional conclusion to the summer driving season. After Labor Day, expectations call for a typical decline…
Tres Picosos Extends Its Reach with New Brokers
Rapidly growing food manufacturer Passport Foods Company Inc. of Denver has selected regional brokers to represent its Tres Picosos burrito line for convenience retailers and distributors in emerging territories. Promark will cover Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. Co-Sales will manage Colorado and the Western states, and Putnam PCSS will manage southern…