Las Vegas Convenience Stores

Las Vegas Convenience Stores - Las Vegas Convenience Shopping - Las Vegas Convenience Store Locations

There are many convenience stores in Las Vegas. Las Vegas convenience stores have a wide variety of convenience food and convenience store items. Las Vegas convenience retail food store locations are listed here so you can find a convenient store near you.

By Malinda Geisler, AgMRC, Iowa State University. August 2006.

Convenience stores have become the neighborhood markets that many Americans rely on for purchasing their gasoline, coffee, food and snacks. The average amount of time for a consumer to walk in, make a purchase and depart a convenience store is between three and four minutes. In some metro locations, convenience stores are the primary source for groceries.

A convenience store is defined as a retail business in a convenient location with an emphasis on selling food and gasoline. Other characteristics include a building that is typically less than 5,000 square feet, compared to the median average supermarket with 45,500 square feet. It is convenient to pedestrians and offers off-street parking. The business has extended hours of operation and some are open 24 hours a day. Product mix of a convenience store includes grocery type items such as beverages, snacks as well as tobacco. It offers in-store stock of at least 500 stock-keeping units (SKUs). The average number of items carried in a supermarket in 2004 was 45,000.

The United States had more than 140,655 convenience stores in 2005 with sales of $495.3 billion. That included more than $344.2 billion in motor fuel sales. The 25.5 percent growth in sales resulted from higher gasoline prices in 2005. Convenience stores are now a primary source for consumer fuel purchases, accounting for an estimated three-quarters of all the gasoline purchased in the United States. Convenience store profits in 2005 shot up 18.2 percent to reach $5.9 billion.

The top 10 in-store product categories, not counting fuel, are

1. Cigarettes
2. Non-alcoholic packaged beverages
3. Foodservice
4. Beer
5. Other tobacco
6. Candy
7. Salty snacks
8. General merchandise
9. Fluid milk products
10. Packaged sweet snacks

Eighty percent of all convenience stores offer food that is prepared on location. One in 10 people purchase food at a convenience store during a two-week period. Some convenience stores offer branded quick-service restaurants. According to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), the most popular menu formats were sandwiches, pizza, chicken, burgers and Mexican food.

Nearly all convenience stores offer hot and cold dispensed beverage service. Seventy five percent offer frozen dispensed beverages as well. Of the consumers who purchase coffee, more than half report they most often purchase coffee from a convenience store.

Research indicates some population segments unable to travel to other food outlets rely on convenience stores for groceries. Convenience store groceries are limited and more costly compared to supermarkets.

Sixty percent of all convenience stores in the United States, 84,574 stores, are owned and operated as a one-store business or franchises. More than three-fourths of California's stores are one-store operations. Other states with small, independent operators include Texas, Florida and New York.

Sources:

Food Availability & Food Deserts in the Nonmetropolitan South, Mississippi State University and Cornell University, 2006. http://srdc.msstate.edu/focusareas/health/fa/fa_12_blanchard.pdf

Food Marketing Institute

http://www.fmi.org

National Association of Convenience Stores

http://www.nacsonline.com/NACS/Resource/PRToolkit/default.htm