10/18/04
Patriotism & Parallels
By GREG LINDENBERG - CPS NEWS
Hartman, Sheetz kick off NACS Show; Retton energizes opening session
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| Pictured: Mary Lou Retton |
LAS VEGAS -- A rousing chorus of “Let Freedom Ring,” along with a reverential international slideshow, set the tone for the opening general session of NACS Show 2004, the National Association of Convenience Stores’ annual trade show and convention, taking place just 15 days before the close and contentious presidential election.
The patriotic tone was continued in the remarks of Scott Hartman, NACS vice chairman for 2005, who urged attendees to visit the booth of Operation Interdependence, a civilian-to-military delivery system that sends care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq. The theme was also echoed by current NACS chairman Stan Sheetz, who concluded his remarks with a heartfelt and emotional “May God bless America…and may God bless our troops.”
And keynote speaker Mary Lou Retton offered an energetic motivational speech that recounted her trip to victory at the 1984 Olympics. Attendees saw a tape of the performance before Hartman introduced her, and she offered parallels between the parallel bars—her experience—and that of the c-store and petroleum marketing industry.
Hartman, president of York, Pa.-based CHR Corp., which operates more than 50 Rutters Farm Stores, officially welcomed the crowd to the show. He also discussed growing up in the c-store business. He began attending NACS shows in his early teens. Three generations of Hartmans were in the audience.
NACS has grown up, too, and is now one of the 50 largest annual U.S. trade shows, and rates at the top of the list in attracting decision-makers. This year’s show is the largest ever, he said, with 1,400 exhibitors in 370,000 net square feet. Attendance is “great,” Hartman said. In fact, it reached an “all-time record,” Sheetz said later.
Fellow Pennsylvanian Sheetz, president and CEO of Sheetz Inc., Altoona, Pa. (“soon to be renamed Sheetz, Pa.,” Hartman quipped in his introduction), trumpeted NACS’ recent triple congressional victories—against U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulation of tobacco “in the final hours of debate”; the three-year suspension of the Special Occupational Tax (SOT) on alcohol, which went into effect to help fund the Civil War—“it appears now that war is finally over”; and gains in the complicated overtime overhaul—“I’m not going to explain it, but we won.”
Sheetz also emphasized that NACS would “continue the efforts to gain a level playing field with sellers of cigarettes over the Internet.” He detailed the show’s New Product Showcase and its new “Dollar Aisle” showcase, as well as touched on new financial, technological, labor and other tools and initiatives. He also discussed the reinvention of the NACS Leadership Assembly in part as a component of the annual State of the Industry (SOI) Summit in partnership with CSP.
Because of the rapidly approaching election, Sheetz predicted “fireworks” between Republican and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Democratic campaign strategist James Carville at the show’s closing general session on Wednesday.
Retton said she has “come to realize that it takes the same qualities to become a champion in business as it does to become a champion in sports.” In her presentation, she practically tumbled her way across the stage—she jumped around and waved her arms as she re-enacted her Olympic story and told the rest of her inspirational experiences. She even demonstrated the misstep that cost Ecaterina Szabo the gold medal and allowed Retton to step up and snatch it away from her.
She was able to do so because of “preparation, preparation, preparation.” It is preparation that allows an individual—as well as a retailer—to “go through that door of opportunity” when it opens, even unexpectedly. She added, “Please have the courage to go through” that door, even if it is “outside your comfort zone.”
Retton developed camaraderie with fellow gymnasts, but still determined to beat them. She told retailers to give “high fives” to competitors who win awards and have sales successes, but also be determined to take it away from them. Retailers “cannot afford to slack off or get lazy because the competitor down the street will take [success] away.”