Tobacco plays role in new-store ramp-ups
With the multiple raze-and-rebuilds completed over the past three years, Clyde said the company has seen continued improvement in year-over-year performance. However, in states with high tobacco excise taxes, regaining those customers lost during the construction is more difficult.
“I think [with] the tobacco ramp-up, you see differences if it’s in a minimum-tax state vs. not because those customers go somewhere else for those few months," he said, "and it’s a lot easier to get them back if you don’t have price restrictions in the market.”
Murphy USA Inc. is a marketer of retail motor fuel products and convenience merchandise. It operates more than 1,400 retail stations in 26 U.S. states under the Murphy USA and Murphy Express brands. The majority of its units are positioned near Walmart locations and serve about 1.6 million customers a day. The chain ranked No. 5 in a year-end update of CSP’s2017 Top 202 list of the largest c-store chains in the United States.