Valora, Reitan and Circle K were recognized at the NACS Convenience Summit Europe for industry excellence, sustainability and technology.
Yesterday during a ceremony at the 2025 NACS Convenience Summit Europe, taking place this week, May 26-28, in Copenhagen, Denmark, NACS awarded European retailers for standing out in the industry and showcasing innovative practices in the convenience retailing space.
Avec Freiestrasse, an innovative convenience concept operated by Valora, has won the 2025 NACS Convenience Retailer of the Year Europe award.
The award recognizes the store’s innovative “The Kitchen” food concept and its digital transformation.
“The industry has seen impressive advancements in digital retail solutions, particularly with the growth of foodservice over the past two decades,” said NACS President and CEO Henry Armour.
“Valora has shown an intelligent approach to combine manned and unmanned store operations while putting foodservice front and center to cater to a younger customer base that appreciates flexibility, locality and quality.”
The store operates daily from 6:00 am to 8:00 pm, catering to university students, hospital staff, and local residents.
On Sundays, the store transforms into a fully autonomous 24/7 concept, using the avec app for access, shopping, and payment.
Avec Freiestrasse features a mix of human and digital touchpoints, creating an integrated ecosystem that provides a seamless and intuitive customer journey.
Customers can preorder and customize meals from “The Kitchen” with their mobile device or the in-store touchscreen kiosks.
Payment is streamlined with self-checkout stations and the avec 24/7 app, which offers mobile scan and pay for fully autonomous purchases.
Reitan Convenience was honored with the 2025 NACS Convenience Retail Sustainability Award Europe.
Across its 1,700 stores in seven countries, the company has taken bold steps to reduce red meat in its food-to-go selection, without compromising on taste or customer satisfaction.
Hot dog assortment, once dominated by beef and pork, has undergone a transformation. In 2024, Reitan replaced its best-selling beef sausages with chicken-based options.
The result was a success, with strong sales and positive customer feedback.
Today, most of Reitan’s markets offer three hot dog varieties that contain red meat, and the remainder are chicken-based.
This move has helped cut the company’s share of red meat in its food-to-go sales by 9 percentage points, bringing it closer to its climate targets and goals for healthier product ranges.
In the Baltics, Reitan seen up to 10 percentage point reductions, thanks to a deliberate push toward white meat and plant-based options.
Circle K is the winner of the 2025 NACS Convenience Retail Technology Award Europe.
This recognition highlights Circle K’s commitment to leveraging innovative technology and effective practices to recruit, onboard and engage employees at scale across its European markets.
Circle K operates 5,200 stores across 12 European countries, hiring 8,000 to 10,000 employees in Europe annually.
The competitive labor market in recent years made it challenging for the company to attract and retain new employees, leading to varied store performance, nearly 80% turnover and many new hires leaving within 30 days.
To address these concerns, Circle K focused on streamlining the hiring process by using artificial intelligence for candidate evaluations, which led to a more efficient recruitment system that has processed over 230,000 applicants.
Today, this system frees up valuable time for store managers to screen applications, and as the process evolves, predictive analytics will continue to optimize hiring practices and employee selection criteria.
Last month, NACS announced that Mariette Kristenson, CEO of Reitan Convenience Group, is this year’s recipient of the NACS Convenience Industry Leader of the Year Europe award.
Kristenson joined Reitan Convenience in 2006, holding several key leadership roles including CEO of Pressbyrån and 7-Eleven Sweden, and CEO of Reitan Convenience Sweden (2012–2021).
Since 2021, she has been CEO of Reitan Convenience Group, overseeing operations across seven countries.
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