LAKEWOOD, Colo. -- It may seem as if modern technology is closing in on the corner-store model as disruptors such as Amazon unveil plans for futuristic retail experiences. But Ray Huff, president of HJB Convenience, Lakewood, Colo.—which manages 20 convenience stores, most in office buildings—has been running a profitable automated c-store for two years. At Russell’s Xpress, customers simply walk in, grab their purchase, scan it, pay with a credit or debit card and walk out the door.
Huff didn’t open the automated shop to lower overhead or cut labor costs, though these are benefits. A management company needed to fill 300 square feet of space in an office building in Denver. Given the limited amount of space, Huff decided the best bet was an unmanned c-store, and he set to work building it. The finished space includes shelves in the center of the shop and lining the walls, and a self-service point-of-sale (POS) by the door. CSP sat down with Huff to learn more about what it took to build his automated shop.
Huff and his team decide which items to stock based on the top sellers at their nonautomated sites because the store holds only 18%-20% of a regular store’s capacity. For example, 80% of sales may come from 218 items. “So we said, OK, those 218 items have to be in this store,” says Huff. Top sellers are fresh foods, including fruit, salads and burritos, which reflect sales at larger, manned stores.
Huff also runs a POS solution company, Tenderfoot Software, which he used to develop a POS that can be used by the public. The store’s POS includes a scanner, a device for swiping credit cards, a monitor to input data and a receipt printer. A phone is nearby for customers with questions. Payment processing was provided by Boston-based payment tech company Cayan, but there is a catch.
“If you don’t have a point-of-sale company and the internal tech to be able to do it, it’s a hurdle that a normal convenience store just couldn’t do,” says Huff.
Only employees of tenant businesses in the office building can use the shop. Huff is able to keep track of customers by comparing security footage to customer check-in data. “We’ve been open there two years now and we might have lost—I don’t know—$200? And I know where $8 of that is, because I forgot to pay for a bag of chips when I was there one time,” Huff says.
“We can only do it in places where we already have stores,” says Huff. That’s because HJB’s c-stores act as distribution centers for the automated site. The unmanned store’s POS sends a regular report of what was sold and what needs to be restocked. An employee from a Russell’s c-store across the street visits the automated shop twice a day, restocks merchandise and checks the security cameras.
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