In today’s tight labor market and age of digital disruption, convenience store chains need young executive talent who can lead the company into tomorrow. That’s why CStore Decisions, in partnership with the National Advisory Group’s (NAG) Young Executives Organization (YEO), is recognizing the industry’s next-generation leaders who are standing out at their c-store chains for…
Celebrating Yesway and Industry
I sat down to write this column after honoring Yesway as our 2021 Convenience Store Chain of the Year at the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) Show in Chicago. It felt so good to be out with the industry again and to recognize the hard work all retail chains have done these past 12…
Top Estate Planning Considerations
Congress is planning to make a number of “adjustments” to our basic income and estate taxes, changes that will purportedly impact several commonly used estate planning strategies. That means most convenience store owners, operators, franchisees and executives should get their house in order in preparation for increased federal estate taxes. After months of proposals for…
Merchandise Your Way to a Touchdown
It’s football season, so let’s approach in-store merchandising, layout and adjacencies in the context of football. Guests entering your store most often have a primary need (goal) in mind when they arrive. It’s likely this goal falls into one of three categories — hungry, thirsty or comfort. Think of them finishing the quest to satisfy…
Do Ghost Kitchens Have a Role to Play in C-Stores?
Many people didn’t know what a ghost kitchen was before the pandemic, but now it seems the word is everywhere. COVID-19 afflicted the restaurant industry in such a limiting way in 2020, that every restaurant was a ghost kitchen for a period. Ghost kitchens are kitchens that are optimized to fulfill restaurant orders that will…
Joy Almekies Joins the NAG Board
The convenience store industry continues to grow sales at record numbers, but the stakes have never been higher as convenience store owners face competition from multiple retail channels. The National Advisory Group (NAG) has been working overtime to create an environment where small, mid-sized and family-owned retailers can interact with one another and share ideas for…
5 Healthy Opportunities for C-Stores
A few months ago, as part of Datassential’s “2021 Midyear Trend Report,” we asked consumers a wide variety of questions about their planned behaviors and attitudes, particularly as operators across the country opened again and consumers started to get back to some sense of normalcy. One of the questions we asked was whether they planned…
Beyond Mentoring
People who achieve career success often talk about having had a mentor who guided their career. Whether the mentoring relationship evolves naturally or is a planned relationship, it provides a sustained link between the two individuals. Everyone needs help learning new skills and imagining things they could have never conceived of on their own. Yet…
NTI Store Development Prognostications for 2022
Last month, I predicted that potential tax increases by the Biden administration could alter the structure of mergers and acquisitions by increasing store leasing at the expense of real estate ownership transfers. In this follow-up article, I’ll look into my crystal ball and offer some thoughts on what the future might hold for new-to-industry (NTI)…
Evaluating Real Estate Sites
Evaluating potential new sites for the multi-unit operator can be a daunting task. The operator is constantly chasing several potential opportunities — whether through new builds or through acquisitions — only to have a few select sites come to fruition. Complicating the site selection process is generally a lack of an evaluation tool that can…