Events

Interactive technology company "unable to overcome certain factors."

Cary, Ill. stores that sold tobacco to minors are likely to face additional "sting" operations.

C-StoreMatrix, an online exchange backed by NACS, could shut down, sources say.

Governor Jim Hodges pledges to begin ticket sales Nov. 1 statewide.

Trade groups conduct "We Card" training for convenience chains.

The most up-to-date ideas and strategies in convenience retailing and a beautiful historical setting combined to make this year's Convenience Store News annual Top 50 Forum an indisputable success. The event, held in Charleston, S.C., June 13 to 15 at the Charleston Place hotel, kicked off with a tour of area c-stores. Later, 150 attendees gathered for a Welcome Reception at the Riviera Complex, a restored 1939 Art Deco movie house. Throughout the event, retailers and suppliers attended sessions emceed by Harry McHugh of Wawa Inc.

Much is made these days of the exigencies of hiring and managing young employees, those under 36 years old that make up Generation X and Generation Y. In fact, one of the most enthusiastically received presentations at Convenience Store News' recent annual Top 50 Forum, held in Charleston, S.C., was by Gen X guru Bruce Tulgan, author of several books on managing today's work force, including Winning the Talent Wars and Managing Generation X. Tulgan told Top 50 Forum attendees, "The oldtime loyalty defined by an internal hierarchy … is dead. Now you get as much loyalty as you can buy in the marketplace." (For more coverage of the CSNews Top 50 Forum, turn to Page 18.)

Building on the foundations laid by dairies, gas stations and fuel distributors, c-stores emerged last century, growing quickly from an innovation to an indispensable part of American life.