Giving Back: Good for Others, Good for Business

C-store owners rightly feel positive about their industry’s evolution. This blog and the industry-related media consistently spotlight the advances in store design, merchandise and service that are redefining the convenience store and making it a modern, upscale, go-to destination for consumers.

While this professional transformation is fulfilling, progressive store owners are pursuing a purpose that goes beyond profits and beating the competition. They are giving back to the communities that support their businesses, and in the process creating a more enriching, purposeful business environment for themselves and their employees.

SSCS customer Bobby & Steve’s Auto World of Minnesota perfectly illustrates this spirit. The C-store chain has developed a non-profit organization called the Youth Foundation that helps create community projects promoting literacy, healthy living and active lives. It partners with local communities to achieve its benevolent goals, raising the profile of the stores in the most meaningful way. Read more about this program here.

Brooklyn-based Bolla Oil, another highly successful SSCS customer, is exemplary in that it has built commitment to the customer right into its business philosophy. It makes regular contributions to local community groups, churches and temples, and gives educational grants to local schools each year.

Corporate SSCS customer Sunoco Oil and its wide-ranging network of APlus convenience stores casts its chartable net wide, as you might expect of a national brand. It works with such charities as Philabundance and the Red Cross, encouraging individual sites to work with organizations in their local areas. These stores share information about their activities on a dedicated Facebook page named SunocoSERVES.

Selfless acts create a positive buzz that initiates a chain reaction of good outcomes. Assistance is provided to those in need. The general public sees the good side of the industry—a marketing tool more powerful than any sales pitch. And participating employees experience increased job fulfillment that makes them feel good about their profession and their role in it.

As the holidays approach, charitable works become the theme of the season. But progressive C-store owners know generosity is a year ‘round endeavor—one that’s good for others and good for business.