Dive Brief:
- The number of convenience stores operating in the U.S. grew by 1.5% last year compared to 2021, breaking a four-year downward trend, according to NACS’ 2023 Convenience Industry Store Count report.
- Much of this growth was fueled by a 1,087-location increase in independent c-store operators, boosting their overall footprint to 90,423 stores. Single-store operators currently make up more than 60% of all U.S. c-stores, according to the report.
- Meanwhile, fuel kiosks — stores that sell fuel but not enough in-store product to be considered a c-store — have fallen by 49% since 2017 as consumers seek out locations with “robust food and beverage” offerings, according to NACS.
Dive Insight:
The decline in fuel kiosks underscores the broader trend of c-stores focusing more on selling premium prepared foods and household merchandise, which continues to blur the lines with grocery stores and restaurants. Over the past few years, c-stores have popped up around the country that are not only centered around prepared foods and premium merchandise, but are gasoline-free as well.
Of the 150,174 total c-stores operating in the U.S., 118,678 of them (79%) sell fuel, and these types of stores grew by 1.7% last year, according to the report. When factoring out fuel kiosks, that leaves more than 18,000 stores that don’t sell fuel, hinting that this food-focused trend in c-stores isn’t going anywhere.
“The value of convenience continues to grow, and that’s a driving factor why every retailer, regardless of channel, seeks to provide it,” NACS Managing Director of Research Chris Rapanick said in the report.
The report found that 39 U.S. states and Washington D.C. all saw store-count increases. Georgia led the way, adding 271 stores. Texas continues to outpace the rest of the country in total stores, with over 116,000.
On the flip side, California lost 53 stores last year — the largest drop of the seven states that saw their counts decline — but still has the second-most stores in the country with 12,000.
C-stores fared well last year in terms of store-count growth. The industry’s 1.5% increase ranked second behind dollar stores (4.4%), but outpaced grocery (-0.7%) and drug stores (-1%), according to the report.
NACS’ 2023 Convenience Industry Store Count report — created alongside NielsenIQ — is based on stores in operation in December 2022.
