It has been quite the year at CSP and for the convenience-store industry. I’ve been writing these monthly editor’s columns for a year now, and I decided to look back at my first editor’s column, which ran in our January magazine, to reflect on how far we’ve all come through 2024.
At the start of the year, I promised to continue educating and informing our c-store retailers and their partners—and I think our team here has done just that. We broke the news about Maverik rebranding all the Kum & Go stores it acquired. We reported on industry events from Convenience Retailing University to C-StoreTEC to Convenience-Store Women (CSW). We had boots on the ground when Foxtrot c-stores closed, and again, when they reopened the first store in Chicago. We provided in-depth coverage of the potential Seven & i/7-Eleven and Alimentation Couche-Tard/Circle K merger. Not to mention hundreds of other stories, spanning tobacco, fuels, technology, center store, mergers and acquisitions, consumer trends and more.
7-Eleven is No. 1 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2 and Maverik is No. 12.
We also started running our At Your Convenience podcast weekly. And we continue to publish our Retail Daily podcast every weekday, in partnership with our sister publication, Supermarket News. Visit cspdailynews.com/csp-podcast for more.
We also launched our Instagram account, @cspdailynews, with store tours, new product opening videos and interviews clips from our latest podcasts. We’ve put a renewed effort into our CSP Daily News LinkedIn page. Stay tuned to see how we continue to evolve in 2025.
And like I asked at the start of the year, please keep reaching out to me with story ideas. I want to hear from you.
The Meal Deal Craze
Meal Deals aren’t new—but they’ve been popping up more in convenience stores as they try to compete with quick-service restaurants. Just the other day, as I was driving out to the suburbs from Chicago, I saw two billboards in a row advertising Dunkin’ Donuts’ $6 breakfast meal deal. It includes a medium coffee; a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich; and hash browns. It’s making me rethink my Starbucks breakfast stop, as the other day I spent almost that much on a Bacon, Gouda and Egg Sandwich ($5.25) and $12.21 total when I added in an Iced Hazelnut Oatmilk Shaken Espresso.
So, how can convenience stores get in the game?
Some have already started. EG America’s Cumberland Farms has a limited-time $5 meal deal. And Circle K is also offering options at different prices—$3, $4 and $5. Is it enough to make Starbucks regulars switch? I’m thinking of giving it a try.
Our foodservice editor Chuck Ulie and sister research firm Technomic shared in a recent story some tips for c-stores to combat QSR value deals. Give it a read here if you’re wondering how to get in on meal deals.
Consolidation Looms
The Wall Street Journal in November wrote a story titled “Whether 7-Eleven Is Bought or Not, Convenience-Store Consolidation Looms.” Maybe not a huge surprise to some of us who are used to the constant M&A news in the channel. They called out some numbers, though, that stood out to me, citing NACS data.
The 10 largest c-store chains still hold less than a fifth of market share. While I knew single-store operators dominated the industry, that fact was still staggering to me. About 60% of convenience stores in the U.S. are currently mom-and-pop owned, the story said.
So, who will be bought up next? We can only guess. I do wonder, if Alimentation Couche-Tard can’t get Seven & i, 7-Eleven’s parent company, will they look further down the list? Certainly, there are certain aspects of the global company that Couche-Tard finds attractive, but if they want to grow, could the other top 10 largest c-store chains in the country—including Casey’s, Murphy USA, EG America or GPM Investments—also be on the list?
We’ll check back on that one in 2025.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.