ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The number of convenience stores in the United States grew 3.2% over the past year and now stands at 145,119, reported the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and TDLinx, a service of The Nielsen Co.; 10years ago, there were 104,600 U.S. c-stores.
These results were published in the annual NACS/TDLinx Official Industry Store Count report that tallied all U.S. c-stores as of Dec. 31, 2006.
The increase in stores is a result of a greater number of stores opening than closing in 2006, as well as the [image-nocss] existence of non-c-stores evolving to fit the NACS/TDLinx definition of a c-store, which includes a broad merchandise mix, extended hours of operations and a minimum of 500 stock-keeping units (SKUs).
C-stores account for the majority of motor fuels sales in the United States, and this is reflected in the number of stores that sell motor fuels114,974 storesor 79.2% of all c-stores, a slight decrease from the 80.2% of stores that sold motor fuels the year prior.
TDLinx has established a new census of outlets known as convenience gas station/kiosks. These 19,713 outlets, virtually all of which are fueling stations that have smaller kiosk stores, are not large enough to meet the official definition of a conventional c-store. These locations are not included in this year's conventional c-store count. California was, by far, the state with the most convenience gas station/kiosk operations2,729 total.
The convenience channel continues to evolve quickly to meet the needs of the consumer. The new segment of gas station/kiosks to the market is an important new sub-channel to keep an eye on as they grow in significance to the market, said Scott Taylor, TDLinx executive vice president and general manager.
Consumer demand for convenience is strong as evidenced by this impressive store count growth and bodes well for the future as investors see opportunities in the convenience sector, said Greg Parker, NACS vice chairman of research and technology and CEO of The Parker Cos., Savannah, Ga. The industry continues to be the dominant player in motor fuels sales, despite increasing format competition from mass merchandisers, supermarkets and discount chains.
Highlights from the new c-store industry store count include:
Texas remains No. 1: Texas continues to be home to nearly one-tenth of all U.S. c-stores, with 14,175 stores total. The rest of the top-10 states in terms of c-stores are: California (10,212 stores), Florida (9,380), New York (7,663), Georgia (6,262), North Carolina (6,190), Ohio (5,174), Michigan (4,797), Illinois (4,548) and Virginia (4,506). The same states have occupied the top 10 for several years in a row. The only difference in order for the latest store count is Illinois passed Virginia to move to ninth place. There are more single-store businesses than chain stores: The c-store industry continues to be dominated by small, mom-and-pop storesthose that are owned and operated as a one-store business or franchise. The number of one-store owners now stands at 89,957 stores, 62% of all stores in the United States. This is the highest percentage recorded to date; only five years ago the percentage of one-store operators stood at 50%. Fuel is a traffic driver: Despite shrinking margins, motor fuels operations continue to be an important part of the industry. Texas reported the most stores selling motor fuels, 11,950 stores, or 84.3% of all c-stores in the state, and is above the national average of 79.2% of c-stores selling motor fuels; however, there are several states where that percentage exceeds 95%, led by North Dakota (96.7%), Iowa and Montana (each at 95.8%), Kansas (95.7%), South Dakota (95.4%) and Nebraska (95.3%). Not surprisingly, the two states that mandate full-service for motor fuels sales had among the lowest percentages of stores selling motor fuels. New Jersey had the smallest percentage of stores selling fuels (37.9%), and Oregon had the fourth lowest (57.7%). Other states in the bottom five were Massachusetts (44.1), New York (53.2%) and Maryland (64.1%).NACS represents more than 2,200 retail and 1,800 supplier member companies.
Nielsen is a global information and media company TDLinx offers location information management and is recognized as the accepted store, outlet and account coding structure and source of retail/on-premise channel information.
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