In this episode of “At Your Convenience,” CSP editors Hannah Hammond, Heather Lalley, Rachel Gignac, Diane Adam and Chuck Ulie share highlights from CSP’s Convenience Retailing University (CRU) conference.

The event took place Feb. 24-26 in Nashville, Tennessee, and was filled with educational content in all convenience-store categories, from tobacco to center store to packaged beverages and more. 

Also, Hammond interviews five of the 2025 Category Manager of the Year winners: 

• Foodservice, large chain, winner Kevin Dixon of Circle K and small-chain winner Jamie Kennedy of Weigel's
• Alcohol, large chain, winner Jackie Pfeiffer of Circle K and small-chain winner Nick Triantafellou of Weigel's
• Loyalty + Tech/Operations, small chain, winner Jessica Starnes of Weigel's

They talked about what they love about their categories, what challenges they face and more. 

• Circle K owner Alimentation Couche-Tard is No. 2 on CSP’s 2024 Top 202 ranking of U.S. c-store chains by store count. Weigel’s Stores Inc. is No. 79.