It’s been a busy few months, with a second-half ’24 wave of mergers and acquisitions that have stunned the industry.
I’m talking about Casey's summertime pickup of CEFCO and Alimentation Couche-Tard’s picking of Giant Eagle's terrific GetGo chain. Both deals involved portfolios in excess of 200 stores and more importantly, operations that were distinctive, especially in GetGo’s case.
Remarkably, these deals and Couche-Tard’s “friendly” $38 billion bid to acquire the oldest and largest convenience company, the timeless 7-Eleven, have punctured what had otherwise been a ho-hum year on the M&A front as usual players like EG America, ARKO/GPM and Refuel have largely sat on the sidelines due, in big part, to high market interest rates and excessive sell prices from would-be exiting companies. Instead, these companies have focused on culling weaker assets, re-energizing existing assets and expanding via new-to-industry (NTI) ground-ups.
- Irving, Texas-based 7-Eleven is No. 1 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2
Amid the crosshairs of consolidation, I reached out to several veteran industry experts for their thoughts on the latest happenings.
Their reflections capture a consistent concern: Standardization of acquired brands previously recognized for their personalization.
“What made these regional retailers great were their ability to navigate the retail landscape with flexibility and an entrepreneurial spirit that is harder to replicate as a much larger conglomerate,” one longtime channel expert shared. “In a future of large chains getting larger, I see brands in name only ultimately becoming so standard and generic that no one really cares who they are—the human connection with customers will give way to standardization and sameness.”
I would suggest we’re seeing both—big gobblers streamlining some acquisitions, as Circle K is doing with the MAPCO assets it acquired; Maverik with Kum & Go (at least in certain markets), 7-Eleven with Cal’s Convenience.
At the same time, we’ve seen Murphy USA let QuickChek be QuickChek, Casey’s let the smaller-yet-distinctive Lone Star Food Stores retain much of its personality.
We’ve also seen an extraordinary surge in fuel marketers embracing the retail box. Just look at the winner and top three finishers from our recently completed 21st annual CSP Intouch Insight Mystery Shop. A decade ago, Nouria, Twice Daily and Stinker’s fielded rather rudimentary c-stores. Today, they are among the leaders of what I call the middle-class of operators—mid-size chains doing incredible things. I’d add Weigel’s, Loop Neighborhood, MFA’s Break Time, truenorth and many others to this list.
Underscoring this tension, in my view, is the business model itself. For companies like Circle K and 7-Eleven, their model is more akin to the countless QSR models that put emphasis on consistency of product and their own signature brands. Much of their financial success is driven by store density, logistical superiority, back-end efficiencies and leveraging scale to stock their inventory at a lower cost. For the customer, these super-giants win through private label but even more through robust digital rewards, sweetening offers in a way most smaller and mid-size chains cannot.
At the same time, travel across the country and you’ll continue to find distinctive design and experiences, like the Restoration Hardware chandeliers inside many Parker’s locations, healthy meal options at some of Global Partner's upscale Alltown Fresh sites or maple syrup pancake coffee at QuickChek and other quirky LTO flavors.
Whatever decision an acquirer makes—whether to strip or preserve the identity of its acquisition—my hope is it’s done with humility and an appreciation for the value the acquired convenience store has had on its communities.
In short, it’s not just business. It’s personal.
Mitch Morrison is vice president of retailer relations at Informa Connect. Reach him at mitch.morrison@informa.com.
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