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“Lawrence's well-researched, highly informative articles are well-received by our readership. Furthermore his somewhat wacky and always cheerful personality always adds a smile to my day.” |
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[1] A Hunger for Opportunity: Convenience retail’s foodservice push
[2] The Big Business of Small Bargains
A Hunger for Opportunity: Convenience retail’s foodservice push
Excerpt from 1,200 word feature in the May/June 2003 issue of Your Convenience Manager magazine
Those who study demographics and market trends call it a “sea change” and it’s having an enormous impact in the convenience store industry. This particular sea change is being propelled by time-starved consumers who are spending more of their money on meals outside the home.
It’s an opportunity from hunger and it’s propelling a rapid implementation of fast food from QSRs (Quick Service Restaurants) in convenience stores. YCM’s third annual Profiles of Convenience Retail Stores in Canada, published in this issue, finds that more convenience retailers are adding take-out food and 12% called it the best new category they added last year.
The survey also reports that while fast food is responsible for only 6% of category sales, it provides 35% of gross margin when offered through a branded partner. The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) notes that a well-executed foodservice component can generate higher margins than almost any other product category, reduce reliance on traditional merchandise categories, boost cross-selling opportunities and enhance the image of your C-store.
Foodservice also fits well with the convenience store mission of providing consumers with convenience, speedy service and shopping without hassle. Partnering with strong national QSR brands can enhance your store’s marketing positioning by borrowing from the QSR’s brand equity and techniques developed in the highly competitive and labour sensitive foodservice sector can be applied to C-store operation.
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Excerpt from 1,000 word feature
Whenever I visit one of Edmonton's ubiquitous dollar stores, I can't help thinking that everything old is new again. Shopping for bargains never goes out of style, after all, and that's what the dollar stores are all about.
That's the way it was when I was a kid, growing up in Edmonton in the 1960s. Kresge's, Woolworth's, the Metropolitan, Zellers and the Army & Navy were downtown's popular bargain retailers. Some people called them five and dime stores.
Then - as now - shoppers took great satisfaction in finding bargains. It's a retail phenomenon that can be traced back to the late 19th century in a proud example of right idea at the right time.
In 1879, a man named Frank W. Woolworth opened in Lancaster, Pennsylvania what came to be known as the five-and-dime store, peddling sundries and canned goods, toys, records and whatever else the market needed. He included a soda fountain and a grill, where customers could pause for a burger and a big old chocolate ice cream soda.
Woolworth, who was born in the state of New York, came from a line of farmers, but he wanted to sell goods, not harvest them. And so he became a merchant and, when he saw the popularity of the five-cent table (a forerunner of the clearance table), decided there was a future in bargains.
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