Convenience Stores NAICS 445131, 457110

Apr 18, 2025 - Bill Would Boost Food Sales

• 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, reports the 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 NACS.
• Major convenience stores operators – Wawa, Casey’s, and 7-Eleven – are targeting coffee drinkers with updated coffee programs and promotions, C-Store Dive reports. While c-stores are well positioned to profit from coffee sales with hot dispensed beverages accounting for more than 9% of foodservice sales and margins over 66%, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores, soaring coffee prices threaten to pinch margins on coffee sales. In January, the retail price of ground coffee hit a record high of $7 per pound, up from $4 in January 2020, according to government data. Growing demand amid supply shortages in top producing countries means fewer beans on the market. But relief may be insight. A recent poll by Reuters predicted that Arabica coffee prices could fall 30% by the end of the year, as high prices curb demand and early signs point to a bumper Brazilian crop next year.

• President Trump has moved to pull the plug on the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program (NEVI), his predecessor’s initiative to build a nationwide network of EV charging stations, Politico reports. In February, Trump instructed states not to spend federal funds previously allocated to them under the program. In a letter to state transportation directors, the Federal Highway Administration said that it was scrapping guidance issued in 2023 implementing the NEVI program. However, the letter says states will be able to receive reimbursements for “existing obligations” to design and build stations “in order to not disrupt current financial commitments.” Whether Trump can choose not to spend funds allocated by congress is likely to face legal challenges. Still, the administration’s move to block future charging station construction and Trump’s anti-EV stance in general, creates uncertainty for some convenience stores planning to add charging stations for their forecourts.
• Employment by convenience retailers was relatively flat in January compared to a year ago, rising just 0.4%, while average industry wages fell 5.5% over the same period to $16.52 per hour, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Sales for food and beverage stores, which includes c-stores, rose nearly 5% year over year in January but fell 7.6% from December, Census Bureau data shows. The national average retail price of a gallon of regular gasoline, a major revenue stream for c-stores, was about $3 per gallon in March, down from about $3.43 per gallon a year ago, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.