About six years ago, Coen was a collection of retail brands in the greater Pittsburgh area that included Co Go’s, Kwik King and Ruff Creek Markets. Today, Coen is consolidating its brands into Coen Markets and establishing a unified image and opening next generation stores in a highly competitive and mature c-store market. 

“We're on our way to consistently doing new builds,” said Charlie McIlvaine, chairman and CEO. “It's about creating a retail environment that is attractive, inviting and meant to say ‘fresh’ and it's meant to say ‘food,’” he said.  

Coen is also creating a frictionless experience, where customers can take advantage of the Coen Club mobile app, use self-checkout kiosks and touchscreen kiosks for food orders, and soon the AI-enabled checkout-free technology by Grabango.  

“This is the advent of cashierless checkout, which is taking another layer of friction out of the customer experience,” said McIlvaine. “We are now in data testing mode, allowing this system to learn through AI as people come into the store.”