INDUSTRY ROUNDUP
Retailer Tidbits
Convenience store operators embarked on hiring sprees ahead of the peak summer season. 7-Eleven Inc. and its independent franchise owners held a National Hiring Day on June 3, seeking to bring on as many of 40,000 new employees. Additionally, Circle K is hiring 20,000 new associates, while GPM Investments LLC and Murphy USA Inc. are each looking to add 3,000 associates. Sheetz Inc. raised store employee wages by $2 an hour, its second increase in the past year. Rutter’s increased its starting wage, too, to $14 for all field employees; it is also the second time in the past year the company has increased its starting pay.
The convenience retailer more than doubled its marketing investment in 2021.
7-Eleven Inc. debuted a new tagline, “Take it to Eleven.” The full-funnel integrated campaign embraces an attitude that makes a big deal out of even the smallest of things.
26 Convenience Store News C S N E W S . c o m
Wawa Inc. opened its 50th electric vehicle (EV) charging site across its six-state operating footprint, as it expected to exceed 1 million total EV charging sessions by the end of May. Wawa stores began hosting EV chargers in 2017. Jacksons Food Stores formed a partnership with Instacart to offer sameday delivery to customers in the Treasure Valley market in Idaho. The service will expand to locations in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. TravelCenters of America Inc. completed the sale of 42 standalone restaurant locations primarily branded Quaker Steak & Lube for aggregate proceeds of $5 million. The retailer acquired the standalone restaurant business in 2016. QuikTrip Corp. completed the rollout of QT Kitchens to its Oklahoma convenience stores. The nearly chainwide rollout began back in 2014. Currently, QuikTrip only has two stores that do not have a kitchen.
