A convenience store, or “c-store” for short, is a small retail business that offers a range of everyday products, such as candy, snacks, beverages, tobacco, and basic groceries. These stores are designed to cater to customers who need quick, convenient access to essential items.

A convenience store, convenience shop, bodega, corner store, corner shop, or superette is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as tea, coffee, groceries, fruits, vegetables, snacks, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines.

Despite rapid consolidation among some of its biggest players, the U.S. convenience store industry is the healthiest it’s been in terms of overall store count since before the COVID-19 pandemic. As of January, there were 152,396 c-stores in the U.S. — a 1.5% increase from a year ago, and the most since 2020, according to NACS. Nearly every state increased its c-store count over the past year, with only seven seeing a decrease.

But no state has more c-stores than Texas, which, at 16,304 locations as of January, holds over 4,000 more sites than second-place California.

Marcotte is referring to areas like Pennsylvania, which has what he calls “ferocious” competition among c-store chains like Wawa, Sheetz, EG America, Rutter’s and GetGo Café + Markets. This competitive environment, Marcotte said, has resulted in “best-in-class” retail operations across the mid-Atlantic in recent years.

But in light of moves like those from Casey’s and FEMSA, Marcotte emphasized that Texas is a prime place for c-store retailers to build and acquire.

He pointed to a lack of zoning regulations in parts of Texas as a potential reason for the state’s surge in c-stores. Houston, for instance, is the biggest city in the U.S. that doesn’t have a city-wide comprehensive zoning ordinance.

Another reason for the growth of c-stores in Texas, he noted, is that consumers are flocking to live there. The state added 473,453 new people in 2023, more than any other state last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Texas has the second-highest total population in the U.S. behind California, which saw its population fall by over 75,000 in 2023, the Bureau reported.

The growing population translates into more c-stores because Texans simply shop at c-stores more than consumers in other states, Marcotte said. He said this is due to the state’s widespread geography and car-first culture. Just 6% of households in Austin, for example, don’t have cars.