Expert Viewpoints

Customers are angry over the escalating price of gasoline, an undisputed reality of the market. How that anger is preempted, managed and/or handled at the store level, however, can do more than reduce costly drive offs. It can prevent injury and save lives.

New ElimiTaste Smoke Screen Insane MaxxMint, by Inhale Solutions Inc., is the first Xylitol-based chewing gum specifically formulated to reduce and, in some cases, eliminate the aftertaste from smoking cigars, pipes and cigarettes.

Bake'n Joy Foods, Inc. announces a new line of all natural/whole wheat PANfree 5.25-ounce pre-deposited muffin batters.

New from Scripto Tokai Corp. is a line of Hunting C-thru lighters for the avid or amateur hunter.

California Creations introduces You Tattoo, the first tattoo kit that enables buyers to apply non-toxic airbrush-quality tattoos using an aerosol spray can.

Gold Eagle Co. now offers an automotive line designed specifically for convenience stores.

In the dog-eat-dog world of convenience retailing, operators have long seen the need for keeping things fresh. As competition intensifies from within and outside the channel, more and more convenience store companies are picking things up a notch, creating new and innovative concepts to keep their customers coming back and attracting new business.

In a report released last month, analysts at Merrill Lynch announced that the North American convenience store industry, dominated by mom-and-pop operators, is ripe for consolidation, a trend that would favor the large publicly traded store operators.