At Your Convenience

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Deb Bowman, category manager at Rhodes convenience stores, from  CSP’s   Center Store Forum  on Sept. 9 in Lombard, Illinois. Rhodes, based in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, is operated by  PAJCO Inc. On this podcast, Bowman talks about some of the most fun and challenging parts of her job—and how she doesn’t see an end in sig...

In this episode of  At Your Convenience ,  CSP  Executive Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Art Sebastian, founder and CEO of NexChapter.  They spoke at  CSP’s  Outlook Leadership event  in August  about the report, which details five outlooks for the convenience-store industry, based off the 2025 Outlook Report Survey and data from  CSP’s  sister research firm Technomic, NielsenIQ and Upside. The fu...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editors Diane Adam and Rachel Gignac speak to Adit Gupta, founder and CEO of  Lula Commerce,  about the company's new nicotine delivery services. Convenience-store retailers in states where nicotine  delivery  is legal can now sell and deliver these products on  DoorDash  with Lula.  Lula's  Visual ID Verification captures and verifies govern...

In this episode of  CSP 's "At Your Convenience" podcast,  CSP  Editor Rachel Gignac talks to ExtraMile's director of operations, Dennis Francis, about the chain's Mystery Shop scores. Recorded live at  CSP's  Outlook Leadership conference  in August, they touch on the categories ExtraMile performed well in, including interior, coffee and employees. While Worcester, Massa...

In this episode of At Your Convenience,  CSP  Executive Editor Hannah Hammond talks to Danielle Gutierrez-Stone, senior director of retail operations at Pony Express. They spoke at  CSP’s  Outlook Leadership event in August about the challenges of running a small chain,  being a female leader  in the convenience-store industry, what it means to work for a "Native American"-owned company...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Chuck Ulie (right) talks with Jere Matthews (left), vice president of operations at Rutter’s, York, Pennsylvania, at the Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. On this podcast, Matthews talks about some of Rutter’s scores in CSP’s and Intouch Insight's Mystery Shop audit . Nouria was the 2025 winner , but Rutter&...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Diane Adam talks with K.C. Crosthwaite, chairman and CEO of  Juul Labs , Washington, at the  Outlook Leadership  conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. On this podcast, Crosthwaite talks about the Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of five Juul e-cigarette products. He talks about Juul’s latest innovation, challenges of the  ...

In a recent episode of  CSP 's "At Your Convenience" podcast recorded live at the  Outlook Leadership conference , Abbey Lewis, vice president of content strategy at  CSP , and Max Clark, vice president of growth at PAR Retail, shared insights on the concept of "loyalty everywhere." Clark emphasized that loyalty has evolved beyond traditional engagement points like mobile a...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Chuck Ulie talks with John Pszeniczny, director of operations at Nouria, Worcester, Massachusetts, at the Outlook Leadership conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. On this podcast, Pszeniczny talks about Nouria being a finalist in the 2025  CSP  Intouch Insight Mystery Shop audit, before the convenience-store chain learned at the confe...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Eric Hildenbrand, chief strategy and administrative officer at Temple, Texas-based convenience-store distributor  McLane Co. , about the Food Safety Modernization Act, also known as FSMA 204.  On this podcast, Hildenbrand  talks about the goal of the act, which is to make traceability much faster than it is today. He also...

InConvenience Inc. is doing things differently in the convenience-store industry. In this episode of At Your Convenience, CSP Executive Editor Hannah Hammond talks to InConvenience CEO Tiffany Fraley, who runs The Gas Spot and The Goods Spot c-store brand.  The chain has 25 locations, picked up from shuttered Mountain Express and SQRL Service Station locations. Seventeen of those are currently up...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editors  Diane Adam  and  Chuck Ulie  discuss labor and hiring challenges that convenience stores are facing. They share examples of how c-stores are integrating artificial intelligence (AI), robots and other  technology  tools to perform duties formerly tasked by humans. Look out for  CSP's  August cover story  which delves into this topic. 

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Diane Adam talks with Mike Maraldo, who leads the business unit of  GetGo Cafe + Market  as vice president of operations.  Laval, Quebec-based Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard  acquired  GetGo Cafe + Market in June. On this podcast, Maraldo explains why Couche-Tard a great fit for GetGo, what makes GetGo’s  food and loyalty program  so...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Jennifer Loper of C3 Brand Marketing, Overland Park, Kansas, who spoke at  CSP’s  C-Store Foodservice Forum  June 18 in Schaumburg, Illinois. At the forum, she presented with Julia Foley, C3’s senior insights and strategy supervisor. On this podcast, Loper talks about what kid-friendly convenience-store foodservice offeri...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Rachel Gignac talks with Brian Ferguson, chief marketing officer at EG America, Westborough, Massachusetts. Ferguson talks about EG's loyalty program, SmartRewards, the chain's investment in retail media and artificial intelligence and its foodservice offerings.

In the latest episode of  CSP 's "At Your Convenience" podcast, Vice President of Content Strategy Abbey Lewis sits down with Marc Walkin, Head of Marketing at Qsic. Walkin makes a compelling case for why convenience stores represent an ideal environment for strategic audio: "What makes c-stores so unique is first, they're highly impulse-driven relative to other channels," Walkin explains. "Any au...

Sandie Deas Ray, Nadine Lim and Elsa Storts are three consumer-packaged goods (CPG) leaders who are all at different stages of their careers. They’re also all part of the same power team, a group of industry members who attended  CSP’s   Convenience-Store Women’s (CSW) Event  and who meet throughout the year to solve challenges that women in the workplace face.  In this episode of  “At Your Conven...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Chuck Ulie talks with  Liza Salaria , merchandising and foodservice practice lead at Chicago-based W. Capra, from  CSP’s  C-Store Foodservice Forum  in Schaumburg, Illinois, in June. Salaria discusses correcting foodservice margin leakage, touching on gross margins, open rings, known loss, unknown loss, supplies and more.

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Diane Adam talks with  Mitch Morrison , vice president of retailer relations at Informa Connect, about the latest news and trends in the tobacco category. The two talk about staff changes at the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), how artificial intelligence might speed up the agency's premarket tobacco pr...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Rachel Gignac talks to Neha Nayyar, senior director of loyalty, personalization and shopper marketing at 7-Eleven, and Mario Mijares, vice president of marketing, loyalty and monetization platforms at the Irving, Texas-based chain. The conversation about 7-Eleven’s  retail media network  took place in April at  CSP’s  Retail Media Network Foru...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Chuck Ulie talks with Kathy Williams, senior category leader at  Minuteman Food Mart , Elizabethtown, North Carolina, owned by Campbell Oil Co., from  CSP’s  Cold Vault Forum in Lombard, Illinois, in May. Williams , a  CSP  2025 Category Manager of the Year  winner for center store, small chain, talks about the importance of watching trends, M...

The tobacco industry is undergoing a significant transformation, driven by scientific research and innovation in non-combustible alternatives. With more than 1 billion adult smokers globally and nearly 30 million in the United States alone, understanding the principles of Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) has become increasingly important for both industry stakeholders and consumers. In a recent "...

There has been an explosion in THC beverages in the past six months, and Melissa Vonder Haar, managing director of TradeWorks for St. Louis-based display solutions firm iSEE Store Innovations, said convenience retailers must capitalize on this emerging segment so they don’t get left behind.  But, to do that, retailers must educate themselves and their consumers about cannabis, while also lobbying...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Diane Adam talks with Peter Rasmussen, who is an industry advocate, convenience and energy veteran, and CEO and founder of Convenience and Energy Advisors. The two spoke in May during  CSP’s   Cold Vault Forum in Lombard, Illinois. Rasmussen shares how retailers can unlock digital’s potential to drive packaged beverage profit. He also discusse...

In this episode of “At Your Convenience,”  CSP  Editor Rachel Gignac talks to Whitney Johnson, senior vice president of marketing at EG America, Westborough, Massachusetts, about her involvement in launching both a retail media network and a new loyalty program in the first few months of the year.