WASHINGTON-- 7-Eleven (No. 35), Army Air Force Exchange Service (No. 47) and Alimentation Couche-Tard (No. 76) represented convenience/gasoline retailers on the STORES "Top 100 Retailers" report for 2012.
The companies are ranked by 2011 U.S. retail sales. Dallas-based 7-Eleven had sales of $10.361 billion, sales growth (2011 vs. 2010) of 19.1% and with 7,779 U.S. stores, saw 16.3% store growth (2011 vs. 2010). Dallas-based AAFES had sales of $8.228 billion, sales "growth" of -0.1% and with 181 stores, saw 0.6% store growth. Couche-Tard, based in the United States in Tempe, Ariz., had U.S. sales of $4.867 billion, sales growth of 16.6% and with 4,050 U.S. stores saw 4.9% store growth.
AAFES operates in more retail segments than any other Top 100 company, said STORES. It operates base and post exchanges for the U.S. Army and Air Force. The operations include almost every type of retail format, from general merchandise stores to fuel stations and e-commerce in more than 3,100 locations in all 50 states, five U.S. territories and 30 countries around the world, including war zones.
STORES called t he current retail industry "a many-splintered thing." In general, the report found that big-box retailers, from No. 1 Walmart to No. 27 Meijer, are shrinking store sizes, even as other operators--notably No. 28 Dollar General and No. 48 Menard--are opening larger units.
Drug store chains Walgreen ( No. 4) and CVS Caremark (No. 7) continue to expand their food offerings, while supermarket operators from No. 2 Kroger to Whole Foods Market (No. 37) are emphasizing health and nutrition. No. 3 Target wants nothing to do with Kindle but is expanding its Apple offerings, while No. 60 Dollar Tree is adding prescription counters in some locations, said the report.
The report does not break out convenience stores separately for analysis. But it said dollar stores "have rapidly become a real force in value retailing."
It added that "dollar store" is a misnomer for the likes of Dollar General, Family Dollar and Dollar Tree. A better description is "convenience discounters," said STORES, since the low unit prices are attractive enough to steal consumer shopping trips from big-box discounters. Dollar General passed the 10,000-store milestone en route to its goal of opening 625 new units this year. Chief competitor Family Dollar is cutting the ribbon on 500 new stores this year, which will give it more than 7,500 by year’s end. Dollar Tree, punctuating a report by Colliers International that there are now more dollar stores than chain drug stores in the United States, is testing a pharmacy counter at one of its Deal$ stores in South Florida.
Food has been a major factor in dollar stores' ability to lure shoppers, as both Dollar General and Family Dollar retool their merchandise mixes to find more room for groceries. Both chains strive to address the so-called "food desert" issue in urban areas while repositioning themselves as "the new general store," as Dollar General CEO Rick Dreiling put it.
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