Special Report: The NACS Show
Since 1961, The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) has served and advanced the convenience and fuel retailing industry. The association has remained committed to supporting more than 1,300 retailer and 1,600 supplier members from more than 50 countries. At the helm of NACS is a 29-member Board of Directors representing convenience retailers of all sizes from all over the world.
With more than 152,000 convenience stores across the US, NACS is essential to the industry due to its ability to bring industry leaders together to share ideas and meet face-to-face, while providing networking and educational opportunities. Alongside this, NACS shares its industry insights through its NACS Magazine and Convenience Matters podcast. Furthermore, NACS represents the US industry before Congress and federal government agencies on a wide range of topics such as data security, fuels and credit card swipe fees.
This year, the NACS Show 2025 will be held from Oct. 14-17 in Chicago, IL. The show is expected to host more than 23,000 industry stakeholders from around the world. Buyers and sellers alike take advantage of the opportunities presented at the show, which include exhibiting products, conducting business, educating chances and meeting face-to-face. The 430,000 square-foot expo provides a platform for showcasing the latest products and services within the c-store industry. The showroom floor is divided into five areas: Facility Operations, Foodservice, Fuel Equipment & Services, In-Store Merchandise and Technology.
Closer Look
Jeff Lenard, Vice President of NACS Media & Strategic Communications, emphasized convenience is everywhere, not just in c-stores.
“What NACS does is it represents the convenience retailing industry and traditionally, that has meant convenience stores,” said Lenard. “But on the same coin, everyone sells convenience, especially at the register because nobody wants to be the inconvenient store. So, when you look at most stores today, it’s about how do you speed up that service, how do you make things easy, whether it’s a physical store or whether it’s an online store. We represent the convenience industry. Convenience stores range from that 1,000 square-foot store that you might see in a densely populated area to 750,000 square feet at a Buc-ee’s. At both places, the idea is to get you out as fast as you want to get out, get you what you want and make you enjoy the experience. Our job at NACS is to communicate the industry’s voice at elective leaders, legislators and regulators, and also to tell great stories about the industry to the media and share ideas on who’s changing the concept of convenience.”
“At this point of the year when you’re only a couple of months out, the focus is on getting retailers there and having enough booth density so that the show is something that sells out every year,” said Lenard. “It’s critical that we don’t grow the show any bigger square foot-wise until we can bring in as many retailers as we can. We don’t want to out grow our booth density. What we tell retailers is look at your stores, see what you want to change and go to the NACS show and you will find that change.”
“The broad industry term that is used for conferences is buyer,” said Lenard. “For us [too], we focus on buyers, who are the people who can affect buying decisions in their companies. Those are the ones that are able to take advantage of the great ideas at the sessions and on the expo floor to move businesses forward and meet with teams when they get back from the show. [They can] say this is the future that we want, and here is how we get there. So, it’s really important to get people who [can make] buying decisions. It’s great to get as many retailers as possible, but if it’s somebody at the store level that is more concerned with transactions than growing the business, it’s not quite as valuable as somebody who is looking at the big picture saying here’s how we are going to find ideas and drive our business forward.”
“There’s nothing that beats human connection, and finding that idea in a conversation you had no idea would go that way,” Lenard mentioned regarding the opportunities unique to the show. “It’s about seeing something different that you didn’t know you’d see because you’re there in person, and that’s the advantage, that’s the beauty of meetings. You find these things you weren’t looking for; technically, you were looking for but you didn’t know they were there. With NACS, what’s a little unique about the convenience store industry compared to other industries, is it’s much more of a sharing industry. There are a 15,2000 convenience stores, and 60 percent are single store operators, which means there’s more than 90,000 businesses.”
“When the show ends, the goal is to take in the buzz that you hear,” he added. “People leaving after the last day, there’s a sound that it makes of people talking and being enthusiastic. Even though they’ve walked miles and miles on the show floors. We want them to go back and tell their peers in the office, ‘You really need to check this place out next year.’ That’s one of the best things we can hope happens.”
