Convenience U Calgary: 4 ways to maximize your show experience

For many convenience-gas retailers, change can be a scary thing, but not for Cora Schultz. The owner of Canyon Country Store in Canyon, BC, embraces any opportunity to mix things up and create excitement for her customers.

“Oh my goodness, I’m the master of change! I love change; it doesn’t bother me, as long as I can see the direction it’s going,” says Schultz, whose site boasts a Canada Post outlet, a Rural Agency Store, movie rentals, a full convenience offering, and a deli that offers everything from pizza and sandwiches to sushi and taquitos.

A major source of inspiration for Schultz is the two-day Convenience U CARWACS Show, which takes place in Calgary every fall. Here, through educational sessions, interaction with other retailers, and face-to-face discussions with sales reps, Schultz has the opportunity to absorb as much knowledge as she can to help her make smarter decisions down the road.

Here are Cora’s top 4 tips for the ultimate Convenience U CARWACS Show experience:

1. Take good notes. Find the educational sessions that will help with your challenges, and pay close attention to the key learnings you can take back home.

2. Look for the big hits. Take a tour of the trade show floor to learn about new products and all the latest trends.

3. Ask the right questions. Spend time with sales reps to learn whether certain products and offerings will work at your location.

4. Go for it. No matter how the small the change, it can have a big impact on your business. Don’t hesitate to put your new knowledge to the test in store.

Here's everything you need to know about this year's show:

This year, Schultz plans to make the five-and-a-half hour drive to attend the latest installment of the show at Calgary, AB’s BMO Centre from October 21-22. Here, along with thousands of other retailers and industry members, including full-service distributors and suppliers, Schultz will learn about a whole host of new topics to help her grow her business.

Whether it’s ways to update business practices, tips for engaging employees, effective habits to help bring success, advice for managing numbers, or ways to bring back loyal customers, these sessions will help answer the questions that matter most to attendees.

Car wash operators will also have the chance to learn from industry professionals, who will share their tips for maintaining and improving wash sites, and provide input on the latest opportunities and challenges for wash operators.

To top it all off, the show’s opening session will help bring the rest of the attendees into Schultz’s pro-change wheelhouse, and help Schultz evolve her site even further: Jim Mathis will motivate retailers to rethink their current business models and to make the right changes for meeting their customers’ wants and needs.

As an independent operator in a small community, Schultz understands the challenges associated with her business, so she uses resources like The Convenience U CARWACS Show to help keep her customers happy and remain a cornerstone in her community.