Gas Stations

COVID-19 has created tremendous change in the marketplace Canadian convenience, car wash and gas businesses worked hard to keep staff and customers safe during COVID-19.

Fuel supplier Greenergy continues to make news.

Irving Oil is cutting its workforce by 250 people or about 6% in light of the current economic conditions.

LAVAL, Quebec — Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., parent company of Circle K, reported a relatively strong fourth quarter for its 2020 fiscal year despite grappling with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic."Our agile, decentralized model, as well as the advancements we made in operational excellence this past year, helped us to face the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 and I'm proud to say, I think we've emerged from this historic year a better and stronger company, both financially and culturally," president and CEO Brian Hannasch stated during the company's Q4 earnings call on June 30."We ended the fourth quarter with strong top-line trends, including 12 weeks of positive traffic, before we endured a significant decline in traffic and fuel volumes with the pandemic stay-at-home orders implemented across our global footprint," he added.Looking at the fourth-quarter numbers, same-store merchandise revenue decreased by 0.5 percent in the United States and 6.5 percent in Europe, while increasing 4.7 percent in Canada compared to the same quarter last year.From a fuels perspective, volumes declined sharply during the first weeks following the stay-at-home orders.

Like all convenience store retailers, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.

Company expects "to benefit from high traffic Circle K locations to deliver an unprecedented level of convenience to cannabis customers.

Operator Harsha Nimrani is making a strong play with the opening of her latest business in London, Ont.

Alimentation Couche-Tard says shopping patterns have changed during COVID-19 lockdowns with consumers purchasing larger-sized goods and stocking up on beer, wine and tobacco products.The Quebec-based convenience store chain says there has been strong growth in the sale of alcoholic beverages, in jurisdictions where these sales are permitted."With the closure of bars and restaurants, we saw a movement in packaged beverage towards larger take-home packages, particularly impacting all beer segments as customer buying shifted to larger pack formats,'' CEO Brian Hannasch said June 30 during a conference call about fourth-quarter and record full-year results.Couche-Tard beat expectations as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of US$576.3 million or 52 cents per share for the period ended April 26, up from US$293.1 million or 26 cents per share a year earlier.He noted that there was a shift to cases of 24 and 30 beers from six-packs, along with grocery-sized packages of salty and confectionery items."There was also a notable shift from instant consumption or single-serve to take-home packages in that category.''Even with traffic starting to improve as the economy reopens, Hannasch told analysts that he's been surprised that some of the larger-sized formats remain popular as customers are limiting their shopping trips."We've also gained new customers as we stayed open throughout the pandemic to meet their needs for emergency products, impulse buys and grocery items, which became increasingly popular, and we're seeing some stickiness,'' he said.Sales of food, fountain soft drinks and coffee, which declined with lower consumer traffic, have started to increase.