U.S. CONVENIENCE STORE COUNT STANDS AT 148,026

This is the fourth-straight yearly decline as single-store operators continue to exit the industry.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—There are 148,026 convenience stores operating in the United States, a 1.5% decrease in the number of stores from a year earlier, according to the 2022 NACS/NielsenIQ Convenience Industry Store Count.

Convenience stores sell an estimated 80% of the motor fuels purchased by consumers in the United States. The new store count shows that 116,641 convenience stores sell motor fuels (78.8% of all convenience stores). There were 4,897 fewer stores selling motor fuels compared to the year prior, but a direct comparison is imprecise because the 2022 store count reflects a slight methodology change for c-stores that sell fuel.

The industry decline was led by a 3.1% decrease in single-store operators, which still account for 60.4% of all convenience stores (89,336 stores). The decline of single-store operators continues a multi-year trend; single-store operators made up a record 63.2% of the industry in 2017. Meanwhile, the percentage of single-store operators that sell fuel dropped to 54.6% in 2021, the lowest since the metric has been tracked in 2005.

The decline in the convenience store count reflects the decline of other retail brick-and-mortar stores except for dollar stores.

CHANNEL	2022	2021	% Change
Convenience	148,026	150,274	-1.5
Grocery	45,687	47,066	-2.9
Drug	40,402	41,000	-1.5
Dollar	35,501	34,215	+3.8

In addition, there are “gas station/kiosk” stores that sell fuel but not enough of an in-store product assortment to be considered convenience stores. Overall, there were 14,826 kiosks in 2021. The kiosk format continued to decline—down 5.2% the past year and 32.9% over the past six years—as more consumers sought out stores that have robust food and beverage offers.

Despite the fourth straight yearly decline in stores, the overall convenience store count is approximately the same as a decade ago (148,126 stores in 2012). With the U.S. population at 332.4 million according to the U.S. Census Bureau, there is one convenience store per every 2,245 people.

“The new store count reflects ongoing changes that are happening in retail as our industry continues to invest in their operations and redefine convenience,” said NACS Vice Chairman of Research & Technology Chuck Maggelet, who is CEO & chief adventure guide of Maverik Inc.

“Our industry had record in-store sales in 2020  and was equally optimistic about continuing that sales trend in 2021. These opportunities to attract consumers and grow sales require new technologies and often different footprints that were not possible with many of the legacy stores that closed,” Maggelet said. He added that approximately 1 in 7 Maverik stores were remodeled or improved in 2021 and that the company expects to do the same again this year.

State Rankings

Texas continues to have the most convenience stores (15,742 stores), or more than 1 in 10 stores in the United States. The remainder of the top 10 is the same from the year prior: California is second at 12,053 stores, followed by Florida (9,400), New York (7,848), Georgia (6,448), North Carolina (5,690), Ohio (5,537), Michigan (4,819), Pennsylvania (4,629) and Illinois (4,623). Texas is the only state in the top 10 that added stores (+47). Meanwhile, New York (-248), Florida (-219) and North Carolina (-200) lost the most stores. Alaska (174) has the fewest stores.

The 2022 NACS/NielsenIQ Convenience Industry Store Count is based on stores in operation as of December 2021.