Cash wrap. Checkout. Point of purchase. It’s where brick-and-mortar retail customers pay for purchases. As you might imagine, it involves more than a POS terminal or cash register. Cash wrap pertains to not just the place to record a sale, but the entire area where smart retailers place impulse-buy items. But does its makeup actually…
What Is the Forecourt?
The c-store forecourt. An area of critical importance to the success of a fuel and retail location. Loosely defined: “Forecourt” as it generally applies to convenience stores refers to that area from the store entrance to the main thoroughfare. There is a lot there. The forecourt includes lighting, signage, shrubbery, fuel dispenser islands and…
What is the Roller Grill?
The roller grill. The convenience store staple that has brought hungry consumers more and better choices light years beyond the one-dimensional. Thanks to the roller grill, c-store hot lunch, dinner and snack customers now have cheesy, spicy, crunchy and even sweet options. With the addition over the last several years of international offerings like…
What’s the Secret to a Successful Fountain Program?
From the infancy of the drug store soda counter to cold dispensed beverages at convenience stores and fast-food restaurants today, the fountain drink has been an integral part of serving thirsty customers. The subject is an extremely nostalgic one for me. Indeed, sweet memories and tastes return to my ancient mind and, despite the…
What is a Beer Cave?
The Beer Cave. The separate space – set off from the rest of the interior of a convenience store – that allows retailers to stock cold, adult beverage selections while giving the beer lover and entertaining consumer a space to browse at will. Our continued success with growing beer and wine sales, while impressive,…
If You Build It … Get It Open!
Let’s face it: Building a new convenience location is exciting. Exhilarating, in fact. There’s no shortage of details to keep one busy in creating something from the ground up. It’s a task that makes for an enormous punch list. But once the location is chosen, financing secured, a reputable contractor starts putting the finishing touches…
Kick-Start Your Day!
From time to time, we all lose a bit of our enthusiasm. Running a successful convenience operation with all of its complexities can wear down even the toughest of us – even more so in time of a chaotic pandemic. Sometimes, we aren’t even aware that our enthusiasm is lagging a bit until we…
Show Pride In Your Work and You, Too, Will Believe In Miracles
I’ve talked about Pride many times before and what I really admire about it is that, with a great measure of Pride, one is able to successfully accomplish excellence in most any task or discipline you may conjure up. Humor me and follow my ancient brain’s rumblings and ramblings for just a few moments;…
Stay Competitive!
For a while, in many parts of our great nation dealers and convenience chains had enjoyed better-than-anticipated fuel margins for far longer than expected. My message today — COVID-19 or not — is to remind one and all not to overlook the promotion and polish that bring fuel customers into the store to spend where…
How to Inspect Your Convenience Store
Early on, I began the habit, when visiting a convenience store, of pretending it was the first time I had ever seen the location. I viewed the store with fresh eyes and recorded a list of the things that impressed me, or conversely depressed me, about each location. I made sure that some of these…