Ideas 2 Go Highlights Retailers’ Interesting, Creative, Profitable Ideas

See nine featured segments on the NACS 2016 “Ideas 2 Go” video, which is now available for purchase.

October 24, 2016

ATLANTA – Want to know the most innovative and successful ways the convenience and fuel retailing industry does business? Then check out the 2016 NACS “Ideas 2 Go” video, which is now available for purchase online.

The fast-paced “Ideas 2 Go” program showcases emerging concepts that redefine convenience—as well as quick takeaways that retailers could easily implement at their own stores. Since 1994, “Ideas 2 Go” has provided a fast-paced video tour of some of the most interesting, creative and potentially profitable ideas in the convenience and fuel retailing industry.

The 50-minute “Ideas 2 Go” video presentation was shown at last Thursday’s standing-room-only NACS Show general session. NACS member companies can order and download the 2016 NACS “Ideas 2 Go” program (SKU 30088023) for $30 ($60 for non-members). Orders can be placed at nacsonline.com/ideas2go2016. The program is available for purchase and viewing online only; no DVD will be available for purchase.

The nine featured segments are:
Fuel City
Dallas
It’s a gas station and an acclaimed taco shop so popular that police direct traffic at the store on weekends. And it’s also an offbeat karaoke spot, car wash and a general place of curiosity with a swimming pool and livestock like longhorns and donkeys. Owner John Benda says it’s “where dreams come true”—and he’s probably right.

High Country Market & GastroPub
Round Rock, Texas
Owner Zahir Walji is one of a few level-two sommeliers in the region, and he sells 30 of the top 100 rated wines in the country. That explains why it’s not unusual for customers to get a fill-up and a $500 bottle of wine. But there is much more to this high-end gastropub, where even its own unique black truffle and rosemary ketchup is made from scratch. The store also was the only site outside of Austin to feature a SXSW concert in 2016.

Kum & Go
Johnson, Iowa
The company’s new marketplace design prototype has a variety of unique offerings for customers, especially around fresh, with the goal to create the store of the future for associates and for customers. The goal is to embrace the ampersand in its name, promising to deliver “and more” to customers throughout the store.

Maxol/Applegreen
Dublin, Ireland
The best ideas aren’t limited by country borders. Some of the most innovative ideas in store design and foodservice execution are in Dublin, Ireland, where delegates from the NACS Insight Convenience Summit – Europe visited to learn from the best and “touch/feel/taste” new formats and offers. At both Maxol and Applegreen food is first—plus a focus on design and making the store a destination.

Mendez Fuel (Mendez Fuel Holdings LLC)
Miami
The colorful exterior of the carwash is the first clue that Mendez Fuel is not a typical Mobil station. Inside the store, it’s all about freshness. The deli offers unique sandwiches prepared with local and sustainable ingredients. And the beverages are even more impressive. The company has a cold-pressed juices program for incredibly fresh smoothies and juices. And it also offers a variety of craft beers on tap as part of its growler program, including a new program with canned growlers.

Metro Market (Sprint Food Stores Inc.)
Augusta, Ga.
Metro Market is a unique urban convenience store and restaurant, both in its design and offer in downtown Augusta, Ga. It embraces the historical aspects of an old building with a modern offer, with the design and concept of being a place to hang out, study or host social and business events.

Slovacek’s
West, Texas
Kolaches, sausage rolls and other tasty Czech delicacies are the features at this extraordinary market. The 17,700 square feet of unique architecture and quirky personality is the driving force drawing costumers in, but it’s Slovacek’s fresh baked goods, homemade meats and cheeses, gourmet sandwiches and unique merchandise that keeps customers coming back.

Throx Market Station (Throckmorton Enterprises Inc.)
Winchester, Va.
The store has high-end food, a protein shake program and plenty of unique better-for-your items, but it is the community spirit that sets Throx apart. A second level allows customers to enjoy their food—or for community groups to hold regular meetings. This is one of three Throx stores: Throx Country Store and Throx Brew Market & Grille also focus on unique offers around fresh food and drinks.

U-Gas/Dirt Cheap (U-Gas Inc.)
Ballwin, Mo.
U-Gas recognized early on that a fresh and healthy foodservice offering was not only a trend, but a long-term strategy. Its GiGi’s Café Express and commissary has allowed both U-Gas and the company’s other brand, Dirt Cheap, to execute its fresh and healthy foodservice program.

In addition to the nine Ideas 2 Go segments, four short “Ideas 2 Grow” segments examine unique innovations in retail, including Wallingford Chevron (Seattle), Mission Market (Fullerton, Calif.), Little Waitrose (West London, U.K.) and Marine Corps Exchange (Quantico, Va.).

Ideas 2 Go video segments from previous years (2002 to 2015) can be viewed at nacsonline.com/ideas2go.

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