The Wall Street Journal this morning has a story about how convenience stores “are all trying to grab a bigger piece of the food pie,” carrying more and better fresh food that offer “an appetizing opportunity” for more sales and higher margins.
The story cites companies that include Wawa and Casey’s General Stores as having made big strides in this area: Casey’s “happens to be America’s fifth-largest pizza purveyor by number of kitchens. About three-fourths of transactions inside its stores don’t involve a fuel purchase. Meanwhile Wawa, an East Coast-based chain, has a cult-like following for its sandwiches.”
KC’s View:
This is noteworthy, if not surprising because it has been a long time coming. I’ve been writing here for years that the shift away from tobacco-gasoline-and-jerky was taking place, and it only was accelerated by the pandemic.
C-stores that focus on more and better fresh food will move the segment outside its traditional lane and make it more competitive with traditional supermarkets. Foxtrot is a great example of a c-store that does not accept the old paradigm, and is trying to carve out a new niche for itself.
Of course, not every c-store will be able to do this – there will be markets and demographics for which radically. changed stores will not be appropriate. But the shift is taking place, and the competitive playing field is changing.
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