As with any business, convenience retail comes with a lot of paperwork, which annoyed Robert Robinson, owner and operator of The Roseville Station in Roseville, California. It took him away from what he loved doing—serving customers. The frustration of having to track down paperwork to show inspectors the store’s compliance with state and local codes spurred him to create an app that would handle recordkeeping for him. 

“Three and a half years ago, I designed an app for employees to stay on task as well as enter when they did certain things, like clean the bathroom,” he said. “The app tracks everything we used to note on paper, and I can easily pull the reports whenever we have an inspection.” 

The QuickTask app also contains instructions on how to do tasks as well as how to scan NFC tags and take photos for verification that a task is completed. “The app really puts us a step ahead of our competitors because it acts like an assistant manager who never clocks out,” Robinson said. 

He even connected the app to a TV screen in the store that shows updates. “The customers seem to appreciate seeing how hard our employees work to keep the store clean and inviting,” Robinson said. 

With the app, he’s able to spend more time doing what he enjoys—interacting with customers at the store he purchased in May 2006. 

Living the Dream

For Robinson, the store offered a second career. “I was about to retire from engineering and wanted something closer to my home,” he said. “This site, built in 1998, didn’t seem to be doing well, so I asked the owner about buying the property outright.”

Soon Robinson found himself its owner. The store sat on about two acres of land, along with an attached Burger King and a car wash. “When I bought it, the store was only about six or seven years old, but it looked twenty years old because it wasn’t being maintained,” he said. 

He began its transformation by reorganizing the store floor into two rows of gondolas, each measuring about fifteen feet long, to make it easier for customers to navigate. A dozen cooler doors, along with a walk-in freezer with bagged ice, microwavable foods and ice cream now line the back wall, while the back corner houses the coffee station. Drop-down lights illuminate the exposed duct work and shed more light onto the polished concrete floor. Removing a wall opened up space for the cashier to see the entire layout.

Robinson’s attention to the store’s merchandise is one of the key reasons for its success. “We’re constantly trying to figure out better products to bring in and we spend time getting to know our customers and what they are looking for,” he said. “When we notice a trend, we jump on it as soon as we can. Then we monitor the sales and as soon as it starts to slow down, we phase the product out again.”

He also competitively prices his products. “I’m in the business of selling stuff, not inventorying, so I’m okay with lower margins to sell things,” Robinson said. Customers frequently tell him that his prices are cheaper than other stores, something he relishes hearing. “These are my neighbors, so of course, I’m going to make sure I’m giving them the best price I can,” he said.

Personal Touch

One of the ways he tries to differentiate from his competitors is with his staff. In the beginning, his employees wore bright pink shirts to spark conversations with customers. “We went from seven workers to 15 employees, which allows us to stay open for 24 hours,” Robinson said. 

When he hires someone, he walks the site with them on their first day to see if they can spot what areas might need some TLC. “I also train them to walk a customer over to the section to find what they’re looking for instead of yelling or pointing,” he said. 

For both employees and customers, he offers a KickBack loyalty card (a program from 76, the company’s fuel partner) for free drinks and other perks. “They call me Mr. KickBack because I pass out more of these loyalty cards from our store than the next ten stores near us,” Robinson said. He gives new employees a loyalty card loaded with $10 as well as double points when they use it at the store. “This is another way to help our employees feel part of our team,” he said. 

In the end, Robinson wants his cust-omers to feel like he and his employees care about them. “We want them to feel welcome and valued,” he said.