If the nearly 100 producers of THC-infused drinks and edibles exhibiting at last week’s Hemp Beverage Expo in Atlanta have their way, convenience stores will soon be carving out shelf space for the fast-growing new category—if they haven’t already.
Products containing low-dose, hemp-derived THC make up a complicated category, to be sure, given the varying state regulations surrounding their sale. But they also present a significant opportunity for convenience retailers, according to attendees of the event, which attracted hundreds of people interested in the segment’s growth.
“Convenience stores are everywhere, but they also do everything,” said Melissa VonderHaar, managing director of TradeWorks from iSee. “The footprint, the traffic, is so key for a category like this one.”
(VonderHaar is also serving as the inaugural chair of CSP's C-Store Cannabis Board.)
Plus, she added, c-stores have extensive experience selling age-gated items and they are an “immediate-consumption channel.”
“This is not a pallet-by-pallet channel, it’s not a case-by-case channel,” she said. “It is a single-by-single channel. You’ve got to focus on singles.”
C-store retailer Lonnie McQuirter, director of operations at 36 Lyn Refuel Station in Minneapolis, had sold functional beverages and CBD-infused items before beginning to carry products with hemp-derived THC.
“It’s a busy store,” McQuirter said. “We see about 1,800 customers per day. So, you really need to make sure and rationalize every SKU and item that’s on the shelves.”
When it comes to THC-infused products, he said, “We’re still kind of experimenting, still learning, but it’s been a fun space so far.”
To succeed in c-stores, cannabis beverages and edibles must be clearly labeled and should contain some consumer education on their packaging or on shelf markers, given the newness of the category, experts said.
It is also important for suppliers and retailers to meet with elected officials to discuss the importance of this emerging segment, they said.
“One of the most concerning trends I’ve seen from this (legislative) session, as somebody that loves convenience and loves cannabis and wants to see it normalized, is that the states in 2025 that regulated hemp, largely locked convenience out,” VonderHaar said. “It’s hugely concerning … It is a problem for everybody in this room, because convenience is the way to normalize cannabis. It is where people buy their beer, it is where people buy their cigarettes, it is where people buy their energy drinks. It is where categories are born.”
On the show floor of the Hemp Beverage Expo, suppliers showed off a diverse assortment of low-dose THC beverages, powders, edibles and more.
Some had created c-store-ready coolers and displays, with the hope of securing shelf space.
THC-infused seltzer brand Wynk, which is headquartered in Landenberg, Pennsylvania, said some of its products are currently in Circle K stores, with a “very big national expansion with Circle K” currently in the works, according to co-founder Angus Rittenburg.
The low-dose seltzer is available in seven flavors, with differing formulations around the country to meet the regulatory requirements of its markets.
“Independents I’d say have been 70%-plus of our business, either independent liquor, independent grocery or convenience,” Rittenburg said. “They were pretty early to adopt. The challenge in those that we’ve seen is it’s a lot more price sensitive.”
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