ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Today’s convenience stores can trace their roots back to a variety of formats, dairy farms, gas stations, corner stores and ice stores. In the United States alone there are 152,000-plus convenience stores that serve more than 160 million customers a day. While every store has a different story, they all have one thing in common: They are part of a thriving industry that has seen enormous growth since NACS was founded in August 1961.
As we look back on 55 years of NACS providing the convenience and fuel retailing industry with knowledge, connections and advocacy, here’s how it all began:
On August 13, 1961, Speedee Mart founder Henry Boney called on 14 owners, presidents and general managers of convenience stores to attend a meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, because he felt “sufficient growth of convenience food stores throughout the country was such that it warranted the formation of an association to cover that segment of the food industry.” Attendees agreed, and the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) was born the following day on August 14.
The name of the association itself was a revelation. There was no standardized name for what these stores were called. Some were called bantams or mini marts, even dairy stores. The most popular term was drive-in, but the founders felt that such a name could too closely identify the new association with the store most connected with drive-ins at the time: Dairy Queen. They name they chose—convenience stores—best described what the stores ultimately sold and will continue to sell for decades to come.
For three days the early NACS pioneers hammered out the newly created association’s objectives. Boney was named president of NACS; Leon Melvin of E.Z. Food Shops was named vice president; W.C. Metzger of Pik-Quik Inc. became secretary/treasurer; and Frank Kerr of Jiffy Food Stores, John Roscoe of Big Top, John Gillett of Circle K Food Stores Inc., and W.A. Riedel of Handee Food Mart Inc. were elected directors.
The founders also asked Harry Hunter, then-secretary of the San Diego Grocers Association, to become the first executive director. The first NACS office was in Hunter’s hometown of San Diego. Hunter’s first objective: Organize an annual meeting in Dallas in November that same year. A total of 50 people representing 27 retail chains and 12 supplier companies attended that first meeting. Joining them at that historic meeting was Dallas Mayor Earle Cabell, who later served four terms in Congress. (Cabell’s family also operated the Cabell’s convenience store chain in the 1950s.)
A second meeting to further organize NACS took place in 1962 and the group formed committees for membership and meeting planning. Recognizing the growing importance of advocacy, in 1964, NACS moved its headquarters from San Diego to Washington, D.C.
At every one of these early Annual Meetings, retailers shared new ideas and best practices, encouraging each other and growing the industry. The sharing of ideas—still unique to our industry—was formalized in a 1968 Annual Meeting session called “Here’s My Idea, What’s Yours?”
Over the past 55 years, the industry has seen remarkable growth. Thankfully, the purpose and focus of NACS has largely stayed the same. From those earliest days when NACS was still young, the emphasis was on retailers coming together, sharing ideas and speaking, as best as they could, as one voice.
Today, NACS focuses on delivering knowledge, connections and advocacy to improve your business. It’s the same mission, now 55 years later, but with significantly different delivery mechanisms.