Retail remix: adding versatility to in store convenience.

• Author: Christensen, Lisa

When it comes to retail, it's a pretty crowded marketplace.

If brick-and-mortar competition weren't enough, stores also have to vie for consumer attention--and dollars--from online retailers who don't have the same worries about leasing costs or location as physical stores. Add to that increasingly short attention spans from novelty-seeking customers, and it creates quite the conundrum.

So what's a business to do?

Innovate.

Some of the fastest-growing retailers are rethinking their model and seeing profitable results.

"That's just the nature of the business--just like with restaurants, which have to keep introducing new dishes or they lose interest," says Stuart Thain, a partner with CBC Advisors. "You need to keep changing the experience for the people coming in."

That innovation has led retailers to experiment with store formats and products--exploding the lines between traditional retail categories.

BEYOND CONVENIENCE

Salt Lake City-based Maverik is a convenience store chain that operates more than 270 locations in 10 Western states. But the chain has been expanding beyond gas pumps and fountain drinks to build a brand targeting customers' palates, as well as their wallets.

"Over the last couple of years, we've experienced significant growth as we've emphasized and expanded our food line to where we attract as many people to our locations for food and for our store offerings as we do our fuel. We no longer look at ourselves as just a gas station," says Tom Welch, president and CEO of Maverik.

Maverik stores still carry bags of chips and hot dogs on heated rollers, but the chain has been beefing up its menus with fresher food options like an expanded breakfast menu, hot and cold sandwiches and wraps, burgers and pizza, all in varieties that range from standard to fusion fare. In newer stores, there's even an area for sit-down dining for customers.

"We'll have the regular sausage and pepperoni pizzas but we also have the Asian pizza, the barbecue chicken. We try to be different. We try to give a culinary experience to Maverik customers," Welch says.

That culinary experience starts with a chef and test kitchen at Maverik headquarters for the store's offerings, which get final preparation onsite by food-certified staff. The goal, Welch says, is to give customers dining options that are as good as or better than food they could get at a fast-food restaurant, with the additional convenience of it being the same place they filled up before...