Convenience Stores NAICS 445131, 457110

Jul 18, 2025 - Rising Retail Crime

• The convenience store industry is adopting a multipronged approach to combat rising retail crime that combines technology, employee training, store design, and community engagement to enhance safety and security, Convenience Store News (CSN) reports. Massachusetts-based EG America combines physical security enhancements including AI-connected security cameras, and other connected products such as sirens, alarms, panic buttons and safety sensors, with behavioral deterrents and data analytics to deter crime and protect assets at its 1,500-plus stores. It also employs reusable security devices to protect high-theft items like beverage alcohol, loitering detection technology, and internal messaging systems for employees to discreetly request assistance, according to CSN. Some stores at high risk for theft have mobile security units. Low staffing during off-peak hours creates operational risk, the EG America Retail Asset Protection Team told CSN. Employee training in de-escalation techniques and emergency response protocols are other important tools.
• Frozen food and alcoholic beverages were among the top growth categories for US convenience stores in the first quarter, according to the Q1 2025 NACS NIQ Global Convenience Store Industry Report published in July. Sales of frozen food rose 24.3% in the first quarter compared to a year ago, while wine and liquor sales rose by 11.8% and 8.5%, respectively. Those three categories posted the strongest growth in the previous quarter as well. The two new additions to the top growth category in Q1 were frozen dispensed beverages (+12.9%) and cold dispensed beverages (+7.3%), which replaced other deli & dairy products and ice from the prior quarter. In Canada, the expansion of alcohol sales in Ontario drove liquor sales up more than 300% year over year, per the report.

• With the soaring cost of cocoa driving up prices for chocolate candy and candy bars, nonchocolate candy emerged as a bright spot for convenience stores last year, Convenience Store News reported in June. Sales of nonchocolate candy have grown by nearly $5 billion since 2019, an increase of almost 70%, according to the National Confectioners Association. "Nonchocolate experienced strong same-store growth," Benjamin Hoffmeyer, VP of marketing and merchandising for Texas Born Stores, which operates 50 c-stores throughout Texas and Oklahoma, told CSN. “Sweet, sour and infused juice-filled candy were among the best-sellers,” Hoffmeyer said, adding he expects the infused flavor trend to remain strong this year. Mashups that include combinations of two or more flavors are among today's most popular options for candy shoppers, as well as candies with novel flavor profiles such as tamarind chili, peach chili and lime, according to market research firm Circana
• Convenience store sales could get a boost if legislation to permanently allow the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to cover hot food purchases becomes law, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), which supports the bill. The bipartisan Hot Foods Act, reintroduced in the House in March, would allow SNAP – the food assistance program covering 22 million low-income families – to cover hot food purchases. Currently, SNAP limits purchases to food that needs to be prepared at home before it’s consumed. According to NACS, c-stores are often the only retail locations that are easily accessible by walking or public transportation, or the only locations with extended or 24/7 hours of operation. Food is a bright spot for c-stores, whose overall sales declined last year. Foodservice – which include prepared food, commissary and hot, cold and frozen dispensed beverages – accounted for 28.7% of in-store sales, and 39.6% of in-store gross margin dollars at c-stores in 2024, per the NACS.