POLL: How Is COVID-19 Changing Your Business?

NATIONAL REPORT — The public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic hammered convenience store sales during the month of March. By April, c-store retailers contacted by Convenience Store News reported that inside-the-store business had rebounded somewhat.

While transactions are down, total basket size is up. Beer, wine and liquor sales are up between 25 percent and 50 percent for many convenience retailers. Cigarette sales are also up, as are staples like bread, milk, butter, eggs, potatoes, bananas, and grocery items. Interestingly, many retailers report big sales gains in ice cream as well.

Product categories faring not so well include coffee and fountain beverages, which are both down in sales. Prepared foods, especially fresh foods and baked goods, are off between 10 percent and 40 percent, depending on the retailer. Stores with drive-thru windows are seeing better-than-average sales, and many c-store retailers report doing more business through curbside pickup and home delivery.

As multiple states start to relax stay-at-home orders and restrictions on businesses, Convenience Store News would like to give our audience the opportunity to share their own first-hand perspectives on COVID-19. Please take a moment of your time to answer the quick four-question survey below so that CSNews can assess how COVID-19 is affecting the convenience channel and how c-store retailers feel about what the “new normal” will look like.

Please share your valuable experience with the industry and help your fellow retailers survive and thrive in this uniquely challenging environment. We are all in this together.