A Look Back: 2009 Year in Review

12/13/2009
NEW YORK -- As 2009 comes to a close -- a year that within the convenience store industry may be best described as tumultuous and unpredictable -- the industry's most visited online information resource, CSNews.com, once again presents its Year in Review, a compilation of the most popular news stories published on its Web site, based on the number of online views, for each month of 2009.

From Wawa's recession-survival guide to the numerous reports of store sell-offs and closings, along with stories on historic lows in global consumer confidence, the status of the economy had a clear influence on the top news stories of the year. Also on visitors' minds was legislation and regulation, with news articles on FDA regulation of tobacco, SCHIP and the federal excise tax hike on tobacco, and credit card interchange regulations receiving prominent placement on the list.









But business must go on, even in a recession. Because of this, there are some bright spots in the 2009 Year in Review, including articles on Cumberland Farm's new store concept, Giant Food Stores' entrance into the c-store sector with Giant To Go, and The Pantry's investment strategy.

For all of 2009, the top 10 most popular news articles on CSNews.com were:

1. Mars Gives Away Candy as Part of "Real Chocolate Relief Act"

2. 7-Eleven Takes on Domo

3. Consumers Pick Most Innovative Products on Store Shelves

4. CSNews Exclusive: New Proposal Links Interchange Reform with Disaster Relief

5. EXCLUSIVE: Wawa Reveals How to Survive a Recession

6. Giant Food Stores Opens First Giant To Go C-store

7. Visa, MasterCard Plan Processing Fee Hikes

8. SCHIP and Tobacco: A Storm Brewing

9. Are More C-store Bankruptcies Just Around the Corner?

10. R.J. Reynolds' Snus Goes National

CSNews.com brought all of these stories, along with other breaking news, new product information, the latest industry research and product category insights to more than 52,500 average unique visitors each month this past year.

The Year in Review includes the top three news articles published on CSNews.com for each month of 2009. Click on any article headline to read the full report, and be sure to visit CSNews' Spare Change blog to share your thoughts on the best news article of 2009.

View CSNews' 2009 Year in Review
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