Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. acquires Big Red Stores

Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. announced it is moving forward with a binding agreement for the acquisition of 45 fuel and convenience retail sites from Big Red Stores, a company originally founded in 1997 by Doug and David Hendrix, that has grown mainly organically by opening new sites over the years.

The transaction includes modern, high-quality and well-located sites across the state of Arkansas. All 45 sites are company-owned, company-operated sites of which real estate is owned for 44 sites and leased for one site. Furthermore, the network predominately features large format stores that have ample space for enhanced foodservice and product offerings.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2023, subject to standard regulatory approvals and closing conditions and will be financed using the Couche-Tard’s available cash and / or existing credit facilities.

“We are very pleased to add Big Red Store locations to our footprint in the state of Arkansas. Doug and David built an exceptional network of stores and people, and we believe our values are congruent with the culture they've spent a quarter century building. We are honored to be stewards of their legacy,” said Alex Miller, Couche-Tard’s Chief Operating Officer. “As we expand our presence in the area, we look forward to bringing the Circle K experience to new customers and making their lives a little easier every day."

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Back in June Couche-Tard rolled out contactless, artificial intelligence-driven “Smart Checkout” systems to more than 7,000 Circle K and Couche-Tard convenience stores.

Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard said it plans to install 10,000 systems from technology partner Mashgin at stores in the U.S., Canada and Europe during the next three years. According to the companies, the Mashgin Touchless Checkout Systems speed up customer checkout times as much as 400%. Since 2020, 500 Circle K stores in the U.S. and Sweden and Couche-Tard’s retail innovation lab store at McGill University in Montreal have been equipped with the next-generation checkout solution.

Smart Checkout is an AI-powered, compact countertop device that fits into the existing store layout. Its computer-vision technology recognizes items presented from virtually any angle and instantly rings them up in a single transaction. The device doesn’t require an app, and customers don’t have to find and scan barcodes. Shoppers set items down and pay as they normally would in as little as 10 seconds, eight times faster than traditional self-checkout, Couche-Tard noted.

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Eighty percent of first-time Mashgin users at deployed Circle K locations said they prefer Mashgin to traditional forms of checkout and self-checkout, a Couche-Tard survey found. Recent updates allowing cash use, fuel purchase and key loyalty programs like Sip & Save have driven customer adoption, and Couch-Tard reported that Smart Checkout has become shoppers’ preferred way to transact at some Circle K locations.

“We’ve been hearing great feedback from our customers in the stores where Smart Checkout has been introduced, and it’s easy to see why,” commented Alex Miller, executive vice president of operations for North America and global commercial optimization at Couche-Tard. “Mashgin’s platform is incredibly simple to use and highly intuitive for customers.”