Thursday September 20, 2007 FEATURES Research firm: Convenience stores gain in foodservice arena Convenience stores, along with supermarkets, discount stores, and price clubs, have posted stronger foodservice traffic growth than any other segment of the restaurant industry over the past two years, according to The NPD Group, a consumer and retail information company based in Port Washington, N.Y. While total restaurant traffic grew by three percent over the past two years, foodservice purchases at retail stores outperformed the total industry with five percent growth in the number of meals bought for immediate consumption, the research firm reported Sept. 12. (Full Story) Report details petroleum market in five states in the Northeast A new report examining gasoline markets is designed to help officials in five states analyze what factors influence price changes, and in turn, help consumers, according to the attorneys general in those five states. The states are: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont. The report includes a close study of the gasoline market within the five states, with the aim of developing an accurate understanding of the present and recent history of product distribution, industry participants and market structure. (Full Story) Sign up for a FREE subscription to NPN, the magazine that has been reporting news and trends in the petroleum and convenience store industry since 1909. SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT Get The Data That Drives The Petroleum & Convenience Industry Today! Order your copy of the 2007 NPN MarketFacts today! For a limited time only, take advantage of a special prepublication price and save more than 15% off the retail price. To order your print copy and/or CD version of the 2007 NPN MarketFacts edition, please click here NEWS ITEMS EIA: retail gasoline prices drop while diesel increases The U.S. average retail price for regular gasoline decreased 3.1 cents last week to 278.7 cents per gallon as of September 17, 2007, 29.0 cents higher than last year, according to the Sept. 19 issue of "This Week in Petroleum," published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). (Full Story) In Montana: Missoula area gas stations aim to prevent drive-offs Gas station operators across western Montana say they're seeing a surge in the number of people stealing gas and now they're installing video cameras to try to identify the culprits, according to a Sept. 19 report by Sharita Erves for KPAX-TV in Missoula. (Full Story) Settlement reached in a lawsuit over BP refinery explosion BP PLC on Sept. 18 announced a settlement with four workers who had sued the oil company over injuries in the deadly Texas City refinery explosion, abruptly ending the first civil trial stemming from the blast, the Associated Press reported. (Full Story) Emco Wheaton Retail Corp. appoints new members to marketing team Emco Wheaton Retail Corp., Wilson, N.C., announced Sept. 19 the appointment of two members to its marketing team. (Full Story) In Florida: full-service station to stop selling gasoline Full-serve gas stations, already few and far between, will have one less in their number when Al's Chevron in Fort Walton Beach shuts its pumps, according to a Sept. 19 article by Patrick McDermott in The Northwest Florida Daily News. (Full Story) Philip Morris USA files lawsuits against Internet-based cigarette vendors Philip Morris USA, Richmond, Va., said Sept. 18 that it has filed two lawsuits in federal court against Internet site operators engaged in the sale of illegally imported cigarettes bearing Philip Morris USA's trademarks, including the Marlboro mark. (Full Story) John Swearingen, oil executive, is dead at 89 John E. Swearingen, the most powerful oil executive of his generation and a staunch defender of the industry in the energy crisis of the 1970s, died on Sept. 14, according to an obituary by Michael Barbaro in The New York Times. Swearingen was 89 and lived in Chicago. (Full Story) Gas retailers in Rapid City, S.D., look for new names as BP exits market BP recently announced it is going to pull its brand from markets that are not near its own refineries. (Full Story) United Fuel & Energy and SC Fuels to join forces United Fuel & Energy Corp., Midland, Texas, a distributor of gasoline, diesel, propane and lubricant products to customers in the markets of the southwestern and south central U.S., announced Sept. 17 that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire Cardlock Fuels System, Inc., the cardlock operations of SC Fuels. (Full Story) DTN introduces Web access to information, applications and services DTN, a provider of refined fuels supply chain and transaction management solutions, announced on Sept. 17 the introduction of DTN Portal Solutions a comprehensive solution designed to offer secure Web access to information, applications and services to help conduct business in competitive fuel markets. (Full Story) Gas drive-offs decrease in Kansas City; city prepay ordinance is credited Just more than a year ago, gas thieves in Kansas City pumped and peeled out without paying, on average, three times a day, according to a Sept. 17 article by Christine Vendel in The Kansas City Star. (Full Story) Rutter's plans expansion to Maryland market Rutter's Farm Stores wants to expand over the next two years, according to an article by Charles Schillinger in the Sept. 12 issue of The York Dispatch. (Full Story) In Chicago: cheapest fuel is at stations near city limits A Sun-Times analysis of motor fuel price data showed Chicago neighborhoods bordering the suburbs tend to have the lowest prices in the city, according to a Sept. 16 article by Art Golab and Mark J. Konkol. (Full Story) Fuel stations offering E85 remain few and far between In an article on automobiles powered by alternatives to the gasoline engine, Conde Nast Portfolio, a business magazine, notes that fewer than 1,500 of the 170,000 gas stations in the U.S. offer E85. (Full Story) Tesco to open four shops in Ventura County, California Four stores in Ventura County, California, will be among 30 that will open in areas of Los Angeles, Phoenix, Las Vegas and San Diego in November and December, according to a Sept. 15 article by Jenni Mintz in The Ventura County Star. (Full Story) Oil economist sees oil prices at $100 per barrel in 2008 Oil prices are likely to hit $100 a barrel by the end of next year as soaring rates of domestic oil consumption in the world's leading oil producing nations cuts into their export capacity, forecasts the chief economist at CIBC World Markets, CNN reported Sept. 17. (Full Story) PRODUCT OF THE WEEK Tidel Releases the Sentinel Tube Vend Tidel Engineering, L.P., a world leader in cash management systems and robbery prevention products, is pleased to announce the release of the Sentinel Tube Vend, the smallest, most compact Sentinel Cash Controller designed. The Sentinel Tube Vend provides all the features of Tidel's other Sentinel Cash Controllers, but in a 21 inch width configuration with a single note validator and in a 24 inch width configuration with dual note validators. A Sentinel Tube Vend even utilizes the same floor bolts as the legacy TACC units. Tidel Engineering, L.P. www.tidel.com CALENDAR OF EVENTS Insight NACS Future of International Convenience Retailing London, UK September 24-28 Contact: Dan Munford +44(0)1936-556-090 www.nacsonline.com South Dakota Petroleum and Propane Marketers Association/South Dakota Association of Convenience Stores Annual Convention and Expo Ramkota Hotel Rapid City, S.D. September 25-26 (605) 224-8606 www.sdp2ma-sdacs.com   SIGMA 2007 Annual Meeting Westin Copley Place Boston, Mass. October 12-14 (703) 709-7007 www.sigma.org NACS Category Management Seminar New Orleans, LA Sheraton, New Orleans December 4-5 Contact: Amy Burke or Carolyn Schnare (800) 966-6227 www.nacsonline.com   Ethanol & Biodiesel Management Hyatt Regency McCormick Place Chicago, IL November 28-30 866-620-5940 opis@opisnet.com The NACS Show 2007 Georgia World Congress Center Atlanta, Ga. November 6-9 (800) 966-6227 www.nacsonline.com   For a complete list of industry events, go to NPN's calendar web page.  Published By NPN Group |  © 2007 NPN Group | All Rights Reserved For more information on NPN MarketPulse, contact: Gary Bevers, group publisher M2MEDIA360 Retail Distribution Group Ph: 832-444-7675 Fax: 800-430-3446 Keith Reid, editor-in-chief M2MEDIA360 NPN Group Ph: 630-739-0280 Fax: 630-739-0321 This newsletter is protected by United States copyright and other intellectual property laws and may not be reproduced, rewritten, distributed, re-disseminated, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast, directly or indirectly, in any medium without the prior written permission of M2MEDIA360.

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