Finalists Named for International Convenience Retailer of the Year

LONDON -- Six convenience retailers and forecourt operators will be going for the title of the 2012 Insight NACS International Convenience Retailer of the Year Award next month.

The six finalists come from all parts of the globe, highlighting the international reach of convenience retailing and advanced concepts, according to NACS, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing. The final six are BP Connect, New Zealand; Musgrave Centra, Rochestown, Ireland; Spar Ireland, J14/Spar Express, Ireland; Spar UK, Walthamstow, United Kingdom; Statoil Fuel & Retail, Norway; and Tesco Fresh & Easy Express, United States.

The award, sponsored by Imperial Tobacco, is now in its fourth year. Don Longo, editor-in-chief of Convenience Store News and Convenience Store News for the Single Store Owner under Stagnito Media, sits on this year's judging panel.

Other international experts on the 2012 judging panel are: Frank Gleeson, retail director at Topaz, the 2011 award winner; Jeff Rogut, executive director for the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS); Joe Bona, president, retail division, CBX; Ramon Kuijpers, international key accounts manager, Reemtsma Cigarettenfabriken GmbH, an Imperial Tobacco Group company; Dan Munford, managing director, Insight Research; and Stephanie Rice, founder of Rice Retail Marketing.

Fiona Briggs, editor of Global Convenience Store Focus, and Erin Pressley, editor of NACS Magazine, will co-chair the judging panel, as CSNews Online previously reported.

The award will be presented at the Insight/NACS Future of International Convenience Retailing 2012 event held Sept. 24 through Sept. 28 in London.