New Era of C-Store Design: Elevating the Customer Experience

Convenience store design is so rapidly evolving that it is practically a retail revolution.

No longer an often grungy, quick stop for fuel, tobacco and snacks, c-stores are meeting higher expectations with better food, elevated branding and upgraded shopping experiences.

So here are four major trends shaping c-store design today and how you can implement them at scale across diverse store footprints and regions.

Click below to skip ahead.
1. Beating QSRs, fast casuals at their own game
2. Elevated cleanliness standards redefine c-store expectations
3. Customer-trip missions served without friction
4. Localized and consistent branding

1. Beating QSRs, fast casuals at their own game

Perhaps the most dramatic transformation with c-stores is upgraded food quality: 72% of consumers now see c-stores as a viable alternative to quick-service restaurants, up significantly from even a few years ago.

Shoppers increasingly want high-quality offerings and variety at convenience speed, from fresh, made-to-order meals to premium coffee and healthier grab-and-go options. Accommodating these new food and beverage demands requires changes in store design and layout, as c-stores need to accommodate grab and go, specific orders from a counter, cooking/food prep and cleanup areas, with clear wayfinding and signage that identify each.

So, consider steps to be c-store food forward:

• Dedicate more square footage to kitchen equipment, refrigerated cases and café-style counters and seating. Position and brand these elements strategically to signal not only quality and freshness immediately upon entry but also ensure they are not creating front-of-store congestion.
  
  
• Branding matters, whether the food offerings fall under your brand or through a vendor/QSR partnership. Use consistent signage, color palettes and finishes across all locations to create a recognizable food-forward identity.
  
  
• If possible, adapt menus and displays for local tastes while maintaining a core brand look and feel. Modular kitchen designs allow quick scaling and retrofitting of older stores and they can be altered to fit with a new food partnership or seasonal needs.
  
  
• Better food offerings mean many customers will choose to sit down and eat rather than grab and go. So, create upgraded and well-branded destination areas that can serve those who are eating a full meal, enjoying a pastry and a cup of coffee while charging their car or waiting for family members to pick up a drink or take a restroom break. When there’s the right climate and enough space, provide inside and outside options.

These dining zones not only increase dwell time but also create opportunities for higher-margin purchases.

2. Elevated cleanliness standards redefine c-store expectations

As noted in our intro, grungy is out. Clean and well-kept are in.

This includes the totality of the store space, inside and outside, but it’s most critical with restroom areas. The old days of comically yucky public toilets are dead. And good riddance.

Of course, all areas matter, whether it’s gas-up, car charging, eating or browsing: Clean, well-kept and well-lit are now table stakes for your entire property. But c-stores with great restroom areas can go viral in valuable ways — just Google “Buc-ee’s restrooms.” And obviously there’s a less pleasant side to going viral.

“72% of consumers now see c-stores as a viable alternative to quick-service restaurants, up significantly from even a few years ago.”

We won’t belabor this, but there is one more key, connected point: associate experience and retention.

Want to keep your c-stores clean and customers happy? This requires associates who value their jobs and care about their work environment. Providing them an upgraded work experience means better customer service, as well as cleaner restrooms and well-maintained c-store environments.

Buc-ee's convenience store located in Texas City, Texas. Buc-ees holds the record for largest convenience store in the world at 75,593 square feet. (Tada Images - stock.adobe.com)

3. Customer-trip missions served without friction

A woman pumps a tank of gas, enters your store, impulse buys a fresh-made chicken salad sandwich and wants a drink. But she doesn’t want a soft drink or bottled water. She wants a sugar-free Red Bull or a Protein Zone by Naked Juice. How fast does she find it?

It’s an upgraded environment, but it’s still a c-store. Even with an increasing number of food, drink and product options, your customers still want ease and convenience above all else. That requires intuitive wayfinding intertwined into your branding and décor.

That also means understanding that some retail designers will sell you on cute and cryptic signage — “Ye ole watering hole” — when your customers just want quick, specific distinctions between traditional coffee areas, milk, fruit juices or soft drinks and the multitude of energy beverages and nutritional offerings.

“...It's the execution and consistent performance that separate you from your competitors, not the new screens or services themselves.”

Same with digital integration. It’s not about “wow” factor. It needs to create a better shopping environment that fosters customer-brand loyalty. Self-checkout kiosks, mobile ordering and scan-and-go apps need to offer experience upgrades and value to you and your customers, not new headaches and inconsistent performance.

Digital screens with retail media by gas or charging areas? Adding services to increase foot traffic? Great ideas. But it’s the execution and consistent performance that separate you from your competitors, not the new screens or services themselves.

Another example: EV charging. The EV future — despite fits and starts — will advance, and C-stores need to plan for adding and upgrading useful charging stations. But Rivian’s luxury pitstop in Southampton, New York might not be a scalable, long-term c-store solution, particularly when charge times quicken with better technology and next-gen EV buyers aren’t paying $100,000-plus for their cars and SUVs.

Rivian's charging outpost located in Southampton, New York. Customers enjoy a complimentary cup from Hampton Coffee Company, purchase snacks like trail mix or connect to WiFi. There’s also a 24-hour restroom for owners. (Photo copyright Rivian)

Much of trip-mission efficiency and satisfaction circles back to associates. Well-trained and motivated, they can serve as roaming concierges instead of merely manning cash registers, facilitating quick checkout (even supporting “just walk out” technology), assisting with app use or digital tools or directing customers to specific products. Their active and energetic presences also will reduce shrinkage.

4. Localized and consistent branding

Your c-stores vary by footprint and region. Urban customers prioritize different things than suburban customers. In fact, based on current c-store trends, you might be building and populating bigger stores as often as seeking smaller, tech-heavy footprints.

It’s possible to seek localization and ensure consistent branding for your entire store fleet. But it’s critical to anticipate and provide specific solutions for these combined needs.

• Start with a brand playbook that sets standards and an all-encompassing visual language, including logos, colors, fonts, images and primary and secondary slogans and verbiage. This ensures brand-right consistency, from parking to entrance and browsing or mission-driven shopping, to checkout and exit.
  
  
• Then incorporate designated spaces for localized language or messaging, from seasonal needs to local sports teams to community events to regional products.
  
  
• Establishing guidelines for all types of branding makes new interior or exterior signage or décor elements and innovations easier to implement, wherever your designs, print needs, digital touchpoints or manufacturing originate.
  
  

The natural wood tones and color palette conveyed a Martha's Vineyard feel for the New England-based retailer, Alltown. The "Grab N' Go" food wasn't typical convenience store either. It was "Chefly Prepared" sandwiches and artisan flatbread pizzas that made customers want to sit and stay awhile. 

As with all things retail, optimizing the brand experience at your c-stores is about creative, strategic, holistic and pragmatic thinking.

Scaling these initiatives requires modular store designs, standardized branding, purposeful technology and flexible regional execution. C-stores that invest in thoughtful design systems today will position themselves as leaders in a rapidly modernizing convenience sector, delivering value and connection across every footprint.