My go-to c-store is a Holiday, about two minutes from my home in Minneapolis. It’s a cop hangout, so you know it’s good. The store is perfectly fine—clean, always an interesting mix of new beverages, candy and snacks that the category managers are testing out.
There's free air for tires, the scent of baking cookies from an oven behind the checkout, and a car wash that simultaneously excites and scares the living daylights out of my 4-year-old. It’s the pretty pink soap—appearing at just the right moment—that keeps her from going over the edge into panic mode.
As at most great stores, it’s the people who make me really love my Holiday. I’ve had store clerks lovingly swat me away when I’ve tried to pay for a small soda. They tease me for the bizarre cornucopia of foods I dump onto the counter (journalistic curiosity translates to the snack aisle). They take jabs at each other and maintain an upbeat hum that blankets the store. They are genuinely happy to engage with everyone they meet. They don’t know me, but they’re empowered to pretend like they do.
One sleepy Saturday night, I walked in to find a few police officers talking to an employee manning the checkout. I strained to hear what they were discussing so intently: She was admitting to them that she shoplifted … as a child. They all broke into laughter, teasing her relentlessly for the 20-year-old confession. The warm camaraderie was so enticing, I had to hold back the desire to share my own childhood indiscretions.
Clutching Culture
Nothing gets the CSP editorial team’s collective pulses racing more than a major acquisition, and this year gave us a few big heart-stoppers. 7-Eleven’s purchase of Sunoco will tip it over the 10,000-store line, while Alimentation Couche-Tard grabbed ahold of my neighborhood shop while still deep in the trenches with its integration of CST Brands.
The 2017 mergers-and-acquisitions narrative was driven more by well-known convenience-retailing brands than the MLP entities that dominated headlines of the past few years, as Angel Abcede and Greg Lindenberg explore beginning on p. 28. This trend gives momentum to the in-store evolution that this industry has begun—an evolution of the shopper experience that will drive the next iteration of convenience retailing in the face of so many exciting and unknown disruptive forces.
The risk is that, in the ongoing churn of consolidation, we lose that momentum. That the culture of innovation gets lost in synergies, and brand evolution gives way to the bottom line. Will consolidation hinder our evolution or propel it forward? And in the face of both consolidation and disruption, can we maintain the connection to the community that is the most powerful tool our industry has?
Last month, CSP and NRC Realty & Capital Advisors held a roundtable discussion with a group of independent operators. When asked about steeper competition due to consolidation, some attendees cited the pains of being outbid on every new opportunity. But at least one single-store retailer wasn’t worried: To him, nothing is better for business than being considered a member of the community.
People Power
After hearing the news of Couche-Tard’s acquisition of Holiday, I made a stop at one of the Twin Cities Circle K stores. I was prepared to dislike it, the bar set high by my Holiday bias.
But what I found was a warm, inviting store. I found products I hadn’t seen elsewhere, with unique merchandising tactics. The woman behind the counter hollered out personalized greetings to everyone who came into the store. She, too, razzed me for my candy intake.
As consolidation and integration continues, I’ll be using my pals behind the counter as a litmus test for how we’ll keep our culture of community in the face of both big-deal M&A and even bigger-deal disruption.
Abbie Westra is director of Winsight’s Retail Content Group. Reach her at awestra@winsightmedia.com.
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