C-Store Update: Trends Still Weak, but Improving

The convenience channel finished the 4 weeks ending 1/23/2010 down 1.2% in case volume and up 0.2% in dollar volume, according to Nielsen. While certainly not a stellar performance, there is good news in that the c-store trend is getting better when compared to 12 week (-1.7%) and 52 week (-1.8%) trends. The below premium segment, the craft segment and the alternative alcohol beverages (Four Loko, etc) continued to gain share (+1.9 dollars and +1.6 case share). As those segments