Wawa Inc.

VPMCSA president challenges Stan Sheetz to a below-cost legislation debate.

The 7,400-square-foot unit is the first of many the chain expects to open over the next few years.

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.

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.

The number of debit transactions — both online debit, those made with ATM cards and requiring a personal identification number (PIN), and off-line or "signature" debit, those made by cards bearing a MasterCard or Visa logo not requiring a PIN — has increased dramatically over the last few years.