For the second straight year, ExtraMile, Nouria and Rutter’s are CSP and Intouch Insight's Mystery Shop finalists, each earning an overall score higher than 92%. The winner and runners-up will be revealed at the Outlook Leadership Conference by Informa in August. London-based Informa owns CSP.
Nouria, the winner in 2024 and 2025, a 321-store chain in its fifth year in the Mystery Shop, is based in Worcester, Massachusetts. ExtraMile, Pleasanton, California, has 1,174 stores and finished first in 2004 and second in 2018. York, Pennsylvania-based Rutter’s, which has 92 stores, last won in 2023.
“As we increase store complexity and automate every touchpoint from ordering on an app or a kiosk to voice AI through a speaker, we are quietly squeezing out the human parts of the customer experience,” said Cameron Watt, Intouch Insight president and CEO. “It turns out, however, that the human part is what the customers actually reward. A cold, silent handoff delivers mediocre satisfaction no matter how efficient it is; add in a real greeting and a genuine thank you, and satisfaction increases dramatically.”
- ExtraMile is No. 9, Nouria is No. 29 and Rutter’s is No. 75 on CSP’s 2026 Top 202 U.S. c-store chains by store count.
The participants in this year’s study were measured not only on their execution against the standards of efficiency, but also against the standards around keeping their transactions human, Watt said.
“The performance of all this year’s participants and, in particular, the finalists, illustrate how hard this industry is working to adapt to the new customer service realities,” he said.
Watt also said the cookie-cutter c-store is fading.
“Forward-thinking operators are shattering the standard box with tech-infused hubs, expansive food-forward flagships and high-dwell experiences that fundamentally rewrite the customer journey,” he said. “Diversification is the new growth engine, but it brings a high-stakes execution challenge. All participants in this year’s study performed well and are showing that this industry is prepared to face these challenges head on.”
Mitch Morrison, vice president of retailer relations at Informa Connect and creator of the Mystery Shop, said, “It’s easy to home in on Rutter’s, Nouria and ExtraMile, three premier chains who each year rank among the top contenders in our annual Mystery Shop.”
“But I’m actually more excited about all 12 participants in this year’s study,” he said. “Not only is this the largest class we’ve ever had, but we changed the scoring system to make it harder and better reflect the heightened expectations demanded from today’s customer. And still, every operator’s score ranged from high 80s to mid-90s!”
Morrison added, “What’s been incredible to see over the past decade is how much more sophisticated our business models are. Most of today’s locations are larger, more digitized, architecturally engaging deliver superior in-store offerings and project a vastly better customer experience. “Our channel has never been better; and each of the 12 chains in our study reflect that continuous improvement.”
How are the finalists determined?
A total of 1,387 revealed audits (overt) were conducted between May 4 and June 8, and 1,399 mystery shop (covert) audits were conducted between April 24 and June 6.
The revealed audit form comprised 34 questions within nine sections: coffee, dairy cooler, employees, exterior, fountain drinks, interior, pump island, restrooms and sandwich cooler.
The Mystery Shop award is given to the best performing chain after months of revealed audits (50% of the overall score), where employees know the store is being evaluated, and mystery shop assessments (50% of the overall score), where shoppers evaluate the store covertly.
This is a change from past years, where the revealed audit was 60% and the mystery shop portion was 40%.
The annual study is completed by Intouch Insight, a customer experience solutions and mystery shopping company that specializes in helping multilocation brands achieve operational excellence, in partnership with CSP.
On average, in the revealed audit, the category that participating chains performed best in was employees. The second highest-scoring category was restrooms, with interior placing third.
Looking closer at the finalists, who received the top three scores overall, ExtraMile’s best revealed audit score was 99% in employees, and its second-best score, 96.5%, was in pump island. Nouria’s top score, 98.2%, was in fountain drinks, and its second-best score was in interior, 98%. Rutter’s scored 100% in employees, and its next-best score, interior, was 98.4%.
In the Mystery Shop portion, the best score for ExtraMile and Nouria, 99%, was in, “Did the store inventory appear fully stocked and organized?” Rutter’s top score, 99%, was in, “Was the restroom accessible to customers?”
Watch for more coverage of the annual Mystery Shop in the September issue of CSP magazine.
Click here to read about last year’s results.
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