GREEN BAY, Wisc. – Like many places around the country, Wisconsin residents are increasingly turning to convenience stores for their fill-in grocery store needs, USA Today Network-Wisconsin/Green Bay Gazette reports. The Food Institute reported earlier this year that c-stores are siphoning off more of the grocery market share, rising from 8% in 1988 to 16% last year.

Convenience stores are in or near neighborhoods and offer a quick in-and-out customer crave. “If you’re sitting around and you need two items, you can either make a grocery list, check with everyone in the family and then go on your way,” Jeff Lenard, NACS spokesman, said. “Or you can … be back in five minutes. If you can be the convenient store for groceries and provide a high level of quality and service, you’ve got a future.”

Innovations by chains like Sheetzand Kwik Trip have meant that consumers are more comfortable eating and buying food in a convenience store than ever before. “Ryan Sheetz always tells me his job is to make people want to eat dinner in a gas station. ... [Sheetz] doesn't look like a [convenience store],” said Phil Lempert, Supermarket Guru.

The appeal of convenience stores has been widening as the quality of their foodservice soars, more retailers offer healthy fare, and more gas stations become destination points for gourmet food. As Lenard pointed out, the appeal of convenience stores over supermarkets is evident in the name itself. “Who wants to be the inconvenience store?,” he said.