The Retail Hub within a Retail Hub

C-Express, an independently-owned chain and SSCS customer, covers all four corners and more of its commercially robust hometown.

Locally-owned SSCS customer, C-Express, does business in one of the most bustling retail cities you’ve never heard of.

It was probably always in the cards for Aberdeen, South Dakota to be a commercial center: the city was born out of the railroad boom of the late 1800’s, making it a key stop for goods and merchandise from its beginnings. You could say retail is in its DNA.

Aberdeen isn’t a decaying boom town, either: the town of 28,000, over time, has become the unparalleled destination for consumers living in northeastern South Dakota.

When most people think of South Dakota, Mt. Rushmore likely comes to mind, but the monument is a five or six hour drive away from Aberdeen. The closest metropolitan area is Sioux Falls, almost three hours away. Aberdeen grew as it began to provide the kinds of products and services consumers in northeastern South Dakota couldn’t get anywhere else.

Today the city is enough of a destination to be referred to as “The Hub,” a recognized nickname that reflects how the town has grown to include not only retail outlets of all sizes, but a regional hospital and Northern State University.

Mike Carrels recognized the potential for convenience retailing in the area, as he’d compiled years of experience as a fuel wholesaler. About a quarter century years ago, when he began actively purchasing existing sites and transitioning them to a brand he created, his business experience and intuition proved to be spot on.

Today he operates five stores, three branded C-Express, one called C-Express/Wolf Stop, and one named Gas-N-Goodies (their latest opening). Store coverage basically extends to the four corners of the city’s relatively compact 16 square miles, making it a standout brand in a town full of them. The store is also licensed for video gaming, legal in South Dakota, and offers car washes at selected sites. One site adds a laundromat into the mix.

Variety is one of C-Express’s most interesting aspects. Not only does each store look different, the enterprise makes it a point to tweak its inventory and service to align successfully with the micro markets it serves.

C-Express State St. (Wolf Stop). The mascot of Northern State University is the Wolves, so it’s no surprise that this C-Express site is on the college side of town. It’s also one of the smallest stores in the chain, with a pared back grocery section, a noteworthy selection of adult beverages, and an emphasis on drive through—which Carrels has been providing for years—a quick stop for snacks on the way to the game, for example.

C-Express 8^th Avenue. This is a residential store in a well-manicured, quiet neighborhood with scant retail development surrounding it. Maintaining a low-profile to align with its market, the c-store on 8^th Avenue does manage to feature a touchless car wash and small casino while maintaining its relatively compact footprint. This is a neighborhood store, no question, frequented by locals. It blends in.

C-Express 6^th Ave/C. Express N 2^nd. St. These locations are grouped together because their approach is similar: these are retail palaces with a fresh outdoor design developed to attract the eye of drivers that travel the busy throughfares on which both stores are situated.

Inside you will find a larger grocery presence, with an emphasis on fresh food that continues through to the deli department. Soups and salads are available through a partnership with the Junction. These options complement offerings from Godfather’s Pizza, which does extremely well for both stores.

The 6^th Avenue store, for all intents and purposes the organization’s flagship store, is the location of the Laundromat we mentioned earlier. It also is home to the Platinum Auto Spa Car Wash, in a building just behind. Both stores operate a video casino. The 2^nd St. location has a drive-through window.

C-Express has become successful through its ability to address different micro-markets. However, managing the variables that make this approach possible—in a timely enough fashion to catch pricing irregularities before they hit the shelf—is definitely challenging. And what about getting differently formatted data from vendors, etc., and blending it all together into one place where profits can be reviewed in an apples-to-apples way?

Carrels and his team always knew c-store technology was at the heart of the answer, and about two years ago, they made the switch to SSCS software. Why did C-Mart choose SSCS, and what did it do for his enterprise? That’s what we’ll be discussing in Part 2, next week.