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…
How to Plan for the Pending Cookie Apocalypse Using Autonomous Check-In, Checkout
As the unanticipated impact of the pandemic magnified the need for online to offline (O2O) solutions and order ahead for convenience stores, so too will the pending cookie apocalypse by Google drive the business case for autonomous check-in and checkout. Verifiable O2O attribution from known users commands the highest trade promotion, placement and slotting fees,…
Flavor Bans Bring Unintended Consequences
Recent peer-reviewed studies show that banning flavored tobacco products or flavored vaping products has significant negative public health impacts policymakers must consider in deciding the proper scope of regulation. Several studies indicate banning all flavored tobacco products actually increases the number of young people who smoke cigarettes. The first study, published in June 2020 in…
Petro Mergers and Acquisitions Prognostications for 2022
As the second half of the year winds down, my mission with this article is to formulate and share a learned opinion as to what the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) picture will look like in 2022 for the c-store and wholesale petroleum industry. Will buyers, sellers and lenders still be plentiful? Will interest rates remain…
Dealing With the Labor Crunch
The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for the convenience industry, but the difficulties have been compounded by legislation that, in some cases, pays prospective workers more money to stay home than they would receive from working. In fact, convenience store operators I’ve spoken with confirm that enhanced federal unemployment benefits are contributing to the labor…
C-Store Opportunity: Pet CBD
The pet CBD products market is set to achieve $561 million in sales in 2021, up 30% from 2020, and is expected to reach $1.1 billion in 2026, representing a 15% compound annual growth rate. This was one of the best-performing product types in 2020, aided by national pet chains Petco and PetSmart starting to…
The Power of One
If you’re like most folks in the convenience store business, you browse through a variety of publications each month and spend some time reading articles that are interesting to whatever your role in this dynamic retail segment might be. Usually, there’s some articles regarding government regulation, trade shows, segment results and other relevant pieces of…
Retailers Must Fight Against UST Regulatory Headwinds
As I pen this column, the dog days of summer are beginning, and 2021 is already half over. Given these past six months, it seems safe to say that the early days of the Obama administration were a cakewalk versus the political headwinds our industry now faces. The latest challenge involves underground storage tanks (USTs)…