WCSA presents the State of Industry Report

The Western Convenience Stores Association (WCSA) is proud to present the Canadian Convenience Stores Association's (CCSA) second annual State of Industry Report. We invite all industry stakeholders to partake in this event, which will showcase the importance and size of our channel nationally, as well as regionally in western Canada. Western provinces (BC, AB, SK, MB, YT, NT, Nunavut) continue to show strong economic and demographic growth and represent 30.5 % of the total convenience store dollar sales in Canada*. Western provinces are home to over 50,325 convenience store employees, represent $9.8 billion in annual sales and 4.8 billion in annual revenues for the local and regional governments*. Join us for the State of Industry Report and show your support for the convenience industry out west and the rest of Canada.

* Source: CCSA SOI February 2009

The National State of Industry Report Features

  • An introduction: proximity to consumers, to distributors and to manufacturers.
  • A recap of last year’s main results – market size, growth, store visits, and impacts on society/ public finances.
  • An update of sales, channel data and economic environment.
  • Comments on the resilience of the channel.
  • Distribution to c-stores.
  • Importance of channel for manufacturers.
  • Strengths and weaknesses of c-stores.
  • Proximity, compared to pharmacies, supermarkets, for urban, semi-urban and rural environments.
  • Growth and changes to network. 
  • Benchmarking and comparison with NACS (with NACDA, CCSA).
  • Challenges to industry and conclusion.

The Regional State of Industry Report Features

  • Summary of national results and regional theme.
  • Sales and channel data: economic, demographic, and consumer environments.
  • Benchmarking for western region.
  • Strengths and weaknesses of c-stores in western region (compared to national data).
Western Convenience Stores Association

The Western Convenience Stores Association (WCSA) was founded as a not-for-profit organization in January of 2002 to provide leadership for the industry on key issues affecting owners, operators, employees and customers in western Canada.  WCSA has grown to represent over 4,000 retailers and various stakeholders.  The board is currently compiled of 7 retailers and 2 associate members that provide input from suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers.  WCSA continues to represent industry stakeholders to key audiences and build strong relationships with municipal and provincial governments and federal government . The burning issues in western Canada that the WCSA is working on for all industry stakeholders are:

  • The introduction of HST July 1st in BC and its impact on western provinces and long term benefits.
  • Beer and wine sales in convenience stores.
  • Worksafe BC: working alone regulations, tests and consultation progress.
  • Interchange fees and the impact on our channel and small businesses.
  • Lottery BC and WCLC policies, regulations and negotiations to include partner and stakeholder participation and advocacy.
  • Minimum wage policies review.