NYACS Brings Back 'Building Blocks' Event

TARRYTOWN, N.Y. — The New York Association of Convenience Stores (NYACS) is bringing back its "Building Blocks for Today's Neighborhood Retailers" event, which launched last year. This year's installment will take place Wednesday, Dec. 3 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel in Tarrytown.

The one-day event is designed to be a laboratory of learning, networking and product sourcing for retailers from the Hudson Valley, metro New York and surrounding areas.

"In today's regulatory and competitive environment, success is really hard for neighborhood retailers to achieve — especially in New York State," said NYACS President Jim Calvin. "This forum will provide practical knowledge, resources and key contacts they can use to build their businesses."

The "Building Blocks" agenda includes 10 free workshops for owners, operators and managers of convenience stores, gas stations, grocery stores, bodegas, newsstands, smoke shops, college stores and other retail formats. Topics include:

• Robbery Deterrence & Safety: Protecting Your Employees and Your Business — presented by Michael Davis, vice president of member services for NACS, the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing.
• How EMV Chip Cards Will Impact Your Store — presented by Sandra Young, president of Petroleum Processing Solutions Inc.
• Surviving a Sales Tax Audit — presented by Richard Bianchi, certified public accountant and a shareholder in the Hudson, N.Y., firm of Shallo, Galluscio, Bianchi & Fucito PC.
• Managing the Rapidly Changing Vaping Category — presented by a panel of tobacco industry experts (to be announced). 
• The New Petroleum Bulk Storage Regulations — presented by Jim Victor, environmental engineer and petroleum bulk storage coordinator for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
• Maximizing Your Lottery Program — presented by Judy Drislane, assistant regional director of the New York Lottery.
• Retail Entrepreneurship 101 — for those brand new to the business, presented by Scorpio Rogers, a professor in the business department at Westchester Community College (WCC) who serves on the boards of WCC's Gateway to Entrepreneurship and the Westchester Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
• Key Factors in Buying or Selling a Retail Business — presented by Lawrence T. Culley, a Staten Island attorney and business consultant.

Workshop sessions will take place from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., and 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. From 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., attendees can browse tabletop exhibits by leading industry suppliers and service providers, and enter drawings for cash prizes totaling $1,000.

Sponsoring partners of this event are XtraMart Convenience Stores, Altria Corp., Swisher International, Sunoco Inc. and NACS.

Retailers can pre-register and learn more about the event at by calling (800) 336-9227 or visiting www.nyacs.org.