C-store Chains Boost Presence on Hot 100 Retailers List

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Convenience store chains made a strong showing on the latest STORES Hot 100 Retailers list.

This year's ranking, published annually in the August issue of STORES Magazine, consists of retail companies that reported the greatest increase in domestic sales between 2012 and 2013. All public and private companies with more than $300 million in sales were eligible for the list, which was compiled by Kantar Retail.

The convenience channel players landing on this year's list are RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. (No. 37), Stripes LLC (No. 42), 7-Eleven Inc. (No. 45), Cumberland Farms (No. 62), Wawa Inc. (No. 76), Pilot Flying J (No. 81), Casey's General Stores Inc. (No. 83) and QuikTrip Corp. (No. 92).

Susan Reda, media editor for STORES, said the eclectic quality of the overall Hot 100 list is a good sign for the retail industry.

"It's becoming a familiar story in our industry -- growth stems from new products, innovative thinking and one-of-a-kind customer experiences," Reda said.

Idaho-based grocery chain Albertsons claimed the top spot on the 2014 list, with sales growth of 432.7 percent between 2012 and 2013. Albertsons' growth -- to 2013 sales of $19.5 billion -- has primarily come from mergers and acquisitions.

"Hot retailers do things better than their competitors, and they've clearly carved out a proposition for the consumer," said Bryan Gildenberg, Kantar Retail's chief knowledge officer. "Part of that success is being at the right place at the right time with the right products, and the other part of it is being smart enough to know the differences in those factors between themselves and their competitors. In a slow growth market like 2013, share gains equal growth."

STORES Media is the publishing group of the National Retail Federation.