Two Cents

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Want to vent, share a funny story, or ask a question? Here's the place. Post your two cents here and receive feedback from fellow colleagues, suppliers and CSNews staff.

Comments

[emile scheuermann]

Has anyone seen circle ks new look?Pensacola Fla,store-Black ceiling,Full glass front.What do you think?

[Mehgan]

CSNews visited one of the new Circle K store designs during its 2007 Future Forum in St. Petersburg, Fla., in March. Here's what it wrote about the store:

"Attendees had the chance to tour four convenience stores in the southern Florida region, starting with Circle K's latest concept for the Gulf Coast region in Lutz, Fla.

"There, black ceilings and shelving were accented by silver walls and focused lighting, making the products in the store stand out. A wall of 2-liter sodas and an extensive offering of grab-n-go foodservice interested retailers. One regional favorite, boiled peanuts, intrigued retailers that had never seen it before.

"The store is designed with hot beverages and prepared foods separate from one another, to help drive traffic to specific areas with increased speed. In addition, registers have LCD displays that showcase various products available at the store. A walk-in beer cave and wine also attract customers.

"The black ceilings and focused lighting were of interest to one guest, Mike Zielinski of Royal Buying Group. "I've never seen that," he said, noting that the black made the colorful products noticeable."

Personally, I thought the stores are well laid-out, allowing cusotmers to flow through the store.

The black ceilings are eye-catching, it definitely gives an upscale feeling to the store, and makes everything pop.

One cool element the stores are using is LCD screens to promote items as the registers and around the interior of the stores. I haven't seen it many places, and it always catches my eye.

Emile, what do you think of the stores?

[Andrew Gay]

Hi there from South Africa. I am an operations Manager with a major Fuel retailer with a large number of convenience stores in the country. We are currently implementing Product flows and planograms in our stores. Many of the planograms result in an increase in shrinkage in certain categories due to the product flows being generic for the group Nationally. How do Franchised operators in the States look at controlling Shrinkage and are the product flows enforced even if there is an increase in shrinkage in certain areas after they are moved? Also is there a product range enforced for the stores, and if so what percentage of own products may the retailer stock?

[MIKE BANN]

I'm looking for opinions and thoughts on why it has been so hard to launch a revolutionary retail coalition loyalty program.
The program boasts new clients, more frequency and higher tickets. The claims are backed up by the 24 different transactional data points that are collected with every transaction. The entry cost is minimal (under $1000)as the business plan does not make its revenue from cost of entry but from a small split of the cash reward rebate each merchant must offer to consumers. Cause marketing is also leveraged with equal portions of the rebate going to the cardholder and to the non-profit of the consumer's choosing. Consumer's get to support their cause with every purchase and unlike other programs they continue to build value on their card regardless of what store they are at as long as it is a coalition member. Hence, less cards in the wallet and much quicker earn volicity. All cash no confusing points. Co-marketing opportunities for both non-profits and the merchants. Data sharing and other marketing opportunities for savvy merchants. Consumers win with less cards in wallet and higer earn velocity. Non-profits win with unrestricted funding and merchants win with new customers, more frequency, and higher tickets. couple this with all the transactional data for improved marketing and this should be a huge winner?
I'm interested in your thoughts expert or otherwise.
Mike Bann
mike.bann@alliance-card.com
612-701-8078

[jstation@excite.com]

Buyandsellgasstations.com

There is a new website catering specifically to the Petroleum and Convenience Store industry.

Since the official launch on July 7, 2007, www.buyandsellgasstations.com has seen its number of registered users grow and the number of listings increase daily. Traffic to the website is growing at a rapid pace as more and more dealers, marketers, and brokers hear about the website. The functionality of the website was just recently improved, allowing registered users to buy and sell equipment in addition to stations and convenience stores. As the industry continues to see more and more stations and convenience stores exchanged and sold, the website serves as an invaluable online tool for sellers and buyers in the industry to visit and use.

The website, www.Buyandsellstations.com is the Official Online Marketplace for the Petroleum and Convenience Store Industry. It allows dealers, marketers, and other individuals in the industry connect to buy and sell their stations and/or various related equipment (convenience store equipment, service bay equipment, POS equipment, tankers, price signs, pumps, nozzles and hoses. It is free to become a registered user and explore the site.

[shailesh]

We do not have Gas Station & Convenience Store Retailers' Association in Chicago Area, does anyone has info. please let us know.
SB

[Jose]

Man, that working Christmas bull@#$% is for the birds.

[brian]

We close Christmas Day so that our team members can spend the time with their family. Just how much money is needed??????
Cant take it with you.

[Jim]

I saw a new concept this year at NACS. It's a drive-thru coffee kiosk called Mountain Mudd. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with it or knows anything about it? It looked interesting and seemed like a way to attract a different coffee consumer. They have a website: www.mountainmudd.com
but I wanted to know if anyone had any first-hand knowledge of them.

[Deary Lane]

We are presently using a Mystery Shopping Co. (ServiceCheck.com) with very surprising results. We've discovered our employees are not up-selling and, in one instance, did not check an ID for an alcohol purchase.

What are your experiences with Mystery Shopping?

[Tony R]

I am a rookie owner of a mom and pop type convienence store in a rural area. I'm trying to put together a list of duties and responsibilities so that my clerks are trained consistently. It seems like this type of list must be very similar between stores. Can anybody provide me a go-by clerks duties list that I can customize for my store rather than starting from scratch? Thanks.