Beer has long reigned on the convenience store alcohol throne. And while beer is still king by volume and dollar sales, spirits’ recent momentum shows that shoppers are interested in more types, formats and flavors of drinks than ever before.
Last year, spirit dollar sales grew 6% year over year and unit sales were up 6.5%, according to NIQ data. Nearly every subcategory within liquor—from distilled spirits to premixed cocktails to liqueurs and cordials—grew in unit sales. Cocktail mixes like tonic water and bloody mary mix were the exception, likely due to more availability of premixed options. According to data from SipSource at the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America, c-stores were the only off-premise channel to post both unit and revenue growth in the spirits category for the 12 months ending in November 2024.
“The data highlights a significant consumer trend toward convenience and on-the-go options,” said Michael Bilello, director of SipSource. “Premixed cocktails and agave spirits are leading the growth.”
Companies including Casey’s and Kwik Trip have recently expanded the number of liquor stores within their portfolios, with Kwik Spirits opening more than 30 locations across the Midwest in just three years.
“It’s a challenge to old rules,” said Joe Sepka, cofounder of 3 Tier Beverages, a data consulting company for the bev-alc industry. “The assumption that liquor doesn’t sell in c-stores doesn’t match reality today.”
A Recipe for Success
Three factors help explain spirits’ c-store boom. First, new ready-to-drink cocktails, like High Noon seltzers and Surfside iced tea for example, are meeting the needs of shoppers who are looking for premium, flavorful options. According to NIQ data analyzed by Dave Williams of Bump Williams Consulting, though traditional 750 ml bottles of liquor are still the primary packaging form, RTD cocktails overindex at convenience stores: Traditional 750 ml bottles own roughly 26% share of dollar sales in c-stores versus the roughly 48% share they have in total multi-outlet channels.
The second factor is flavor. RTD cocktails have this in spades, but traditional distilled spirits are also leaning into flavor in new ways. Two of the fastest-growing spirits brands in c-stores for the first quarter of 2025 were Crown Royal Peach and Crown Royal Blackberry.
And most importantly, the swell in consumer demand has prompted retailers to put spirits products in more visible areas, such as in coolers and in floor displays, to drive sales.
Mixing Up the Merchandise
Among the 20 fastest-growing wine and spirits brands in convenience stores for the first quarter of 2025, 13 were spirits-based, according to Sepka’s analysis of NIQ data. Most of those were ready-to-drink brands like variety packs of High Noon, Sun Cruiser vodka iced tea, Surfside vodka iced tea and BuzzBallz Tequila ’Rita.
Almost all of the spirits brands that are expanding their geographic sales area and distribution presence are RTD cocktails, led by brands including BuzzBallz, Carbliss, Cutwater, Good Boy and others.
“Prepared cocktails have grown immensely over the past five years, and those are spirits that fit really well in a c-store environment because a lot of them are sold in four-packs and they’re also really high margin,” Sepka said. “They’re expensive, and you can put one or two of them in placements and get a lot out of each placement.”
For the 52-week period ending March 22, beer dollar sales in convenience stores were down nearly 1% while spirits sales were up nearly 8%. Sepka said an old-school mindset would assume that a beer customer wouldn’t be likely to purchase spirits, but that’s no longer true.
“To win, you can’t just put all of your eggs in a beer basket,” Sepka said. “You have to look outside to these other categories. It’s going to draw in more consumers and just increase the overall productivity of your alcohol set.”
For Kwik Trip, the Kwik Spirits line of liquor stores is also helping offset declines in the tobacco category, according to Mike Vold, Wisconsin-based zone leader at Kwik Trip. He told the company’s KwikCast podcast that bev-alc, including spirits, has proven to attract a broad segment of customers.
“We were looking at the tobacco industry and seeing that the tobacco industry is a declining category, so what do we do to replace some of that income that we’re losing on the tobacco side?” Vold told the KwikCast podcast. “We thought: Who doesn’t like beer or liquor …? It has a much wider appeal to a wider range of guests, so we decided to experiment and try the Kwik Spirits brand in a number of stores.”
Ordering for the Occasion
Since the pandemic, Americans have begun making more frequent, but shorter, shopping trips. In 2024, Americans averaged about four trips per week to an off-premise food and beverage retailer—an increase of almost two more visits per month when compared to five years prior. But NIQ data shows shoppers are still purchasing the same number of items monthly, meaning shopping excursions are faster and result in fewer items per cart.
The trend toward shorter trips may be influenced by rising costs; for middle- and lower-income consumers. Shopping more frequently but spending less money helps them get by from paycheck to paycheck.
In terms of bev-alc, this means shoppers are visiting stores with a laser focus on the items they need right now. Rather than loading up on a case of wine for the month, they’re more likely to be looking for what they need or want in that particular moment, like a four- or 12-pack to drink that day or to serve at a day-of party.
As a result, Sepka said stores need to offer focused variety in their bev-alc sets. Displaying the greatest hits across multiple categories—hard seltzers, craft beer, FMBs, RTD cocktails, flavored wines, etc.—signals to shoppers that a store will meet their needs without slowing down their trip.
“Consumers are almost treating c-stores as an alternative to going to the liquor store because they know that they’re going to find good variety,” Sepka said. “As we’ve seen the general RTD category grow and become more popular—between seltzers, FMBs and prepared cocktails—it’s a way to kind of freshen up your set a little bit. It signals to a consumer that, ‘Hey, this isn’t an old c-store model where it’s traditional beer and that’s it.’”
Young shoppers in particular want the convenience and flexibility to find their favorite brands anywhere. Emma Spagnuolo, associate partner at McKinsey & Co., told the McKinsey on Consumer and Retail podcast that younger consumers typically shop across a spectrum of retail types, from visiting traditional stores to buying directly from social media.
“They don’t think about shopping in this binary way: If I want to buy item X, I must go to the department store, and if I want to buy item Y, I must go to the grocery store. They shop across all types of formats,” Spagnuolo said. “So, they’re looking at pop-up boutiques, they’re shopping on Instagram. Then they’re going into the department store; then they’re going into the specialty store.”
Tequila on Top
Despite their popularity, canned cocktails aren’t the only growth story in convenience; some more traditional subcategories of spirits are experiencing a rise in consumer interest as well.
Year-to-date through mid-April, tequila, vodka, whiskey and cordials were also posting growth in the convenience channel, per Williams’ analysis of NIQ data. Agave spirits like tequila and mezcal have been some of the fastest-growing brands in beverage-alcohol broadly over the past decade, and their rise continues in c-stores—tequila volumes grew nearly 11% in the channel through mid-April.
“This aligns with the recent growth trends we have seen across beverage-alcohol when it comes to brands with a Mexican origin, such as Mexican imported beer and margarita RTDs,” Williams said.
Long-standing subcategories like vodka and whiskey grew in c-stores at the beginning of 2025 as well, with many top brands experiencing increased sales. Williams said 19 of the top 25 spirits brands in convenience stores had grown both dollar and volume sales during that time frame. Stalwarts such as Don Julio, Buffalo Trace, Bulleit and Espolon have also increased their distribution presence through spring 2025. Overall, it’s indicative of a category that’s connecting with consumers across multiple formats, styles and price points.
“It paints a deep picture of growth that crosses both established ‘traditional’ spirits leaders alongside the emerging RTD leaders,” Williams said.