Nashville is seeing an influx of growth, which includes new convenience-store chains like Wawa, Pennsylvania-based Wawa and Atlanta-based RaceTrac entering the market. On the other side of the country, Stinker c-stores see competition from the likes of Jacksons and Maverik.
Mitch Morrison, vice president of retailer relations at Informa Connect, spoke to Billy Colemire, vice president of marketing and brand at Stinker Stores, and Dawn Boulanger, vice president of marketing at Tri Star Energy, on March 1 at CSP’sConvenience Retailing University (CRU) in Nashville, Tennessee.
- Tri Star Energy is No. 52 on CSP's 2023 Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains by size. Stinker is No. 69.
With more and more chains eyeing Nashville over the last few years Tri Star Energy, which operates more than 160 Twice Daily convenience stores, must defend its home base. Boulanger said being involved with the community and drawing in new customers is key.
“We do talk about, ‘How do we make sure that we defend our mountain?’ if you will,” she said.
The c-store chain has a very strong brand in the market with loyal guests and is very involved in the community through sports partnerships and philanthropic endeavors. Part of the challenge is communicating that, though, Boulanger said.
“We do a lot of great things in the community, but we’ve always been one that kind of stands back and we don’t talk about it. I think that’s important—we need to figure out how to do more of that,” she said.
One place they’ve targeted potential new customers is at Predators hockey games and Titans football games. Twice Daily did a promotion in the fall where if the Titans scored after the two-minute warning in the first half, customers who downloaded their app could come in the next day and order a half a made-to-order sandwich for free.
“So just doing things like that to try and drive new people into the store, those are the things that we will really [focus on],” Boulanger said.
In Boise, Idaho, where Stinker is based, the c-store chain of 105 stores has competition from retail giants like Maverik, Salt Lake City, and Jacksons Food Stores, Meridian, Idaho.
Over the past few years, Stinker has remodeled several of its stores and added its first in-house fresh food program Pete’s Eats. Morrison asked Colemire how Stinker communicates its refreshed brand.
“First and foremost, we rely on our team members in the stores,” he said. “They’re the boots on the ground. They know what makes our food so great.”
They also strategically use signs, including digital ones, to communicate their offerings.
When it comes to connecting with the community, in addition to supporting several larger philanthropies like The Women’s and Children’s Alliance and the Idaho Foodbank, each store has a philanthropy budget that they can use to support local causes, Colemire said.
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