Convenience Store Design is

Convenience stores are seeing record sales, exceeding $859 billion in 2023, according to data from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). The average basket — what customers spend per visit — increased 3.7%. The number of convenience stores also are seeing an upward trend, increasing 1.5% for the second consecutive year. With growth, this segment is also evolving. Convenience stores are upping their game to differentiate and meet the latest trends in consumer behavior. This means familiar ease and expediency with some added personality. With our multidisciplinary design team, here’s how we help clients make that happen.

Food + drink means community — we’re here to help you shape yours

Where there is food and drink, there’s community. In the world of convenience stores, food has gotten renewed focus. With the addition of fresh, prepared, and healthy food items also comes the option to relax and linger. It’s not just grab-and-go anymore. Now you can sit and stay in these dynamic spaces where the windows are big, the lights are bright, the food is fresh, and the flavors are local.

Areas of Expertise

From program management to store planning to refrigeration engineering and energy services, our multi-disciplinary design team tackles every project as a unit. This all-hands approach to the design process affords a specialization in mixed-use, food and beverage, and grocery spaces of all sizes, shapes, and types.

  • Site selection
  • Feasibility studies
  • Test fit/Flash plan
  • Site investigation reports
  • Estimating/Scheduling
  • Subconsultant selection
  • Jurisdictional & permitting requirements
  • Vehicle movement modeling
  • Site development plans
  • Landscape architecture
  • Photometric plans
  • Annexation
  • Subdivision
  • Zoning/Re-zoning
  • Conditional use permitting
  • Site plans
  • Grading and drainage
  • Utility design/connection
  • Roadway design
  • Stormwater detention, treatment, and conveyance
  • Erosion control
  • Paving and signage
  • ADA design & analysis

From topographic to boundary to cadastral, the survey team offers full-service, field-to-finish survey products. We produce subdivision plats, ALTA/NSPS land title surveys, utility surveys, and as-builts. Legal descriptions, easements, and other title documents can be crafted or researched by our staff.

  • Structural Engineering
  • Architectural Design
  • Interior Design
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Electrical Engineering
  • Plumbing
  • Fire Protection

Comprehensive planning, investigation, and design services for environmental issues, both real and perceived.

  • Pre-purchase planning
  • Pollution prevention
  • Petroleum systems management
  • Petroleum spill response and clean-up

Touting achievements like the nation’s first all-natural supermarket refrigeration system, our team of retail refrigeration designers and engineers bring leading-edge experience to the development of innovative refrigeration solutions.

Understanding and shaping the buyer journey is both our job and our passion. We’ll optimize the store environment, address functionality and sustainability, and consider your operational needs today and into the future.

We dig deep into the core of your brand to inform design decisions that enhance branded image and create a superior retail experience for your customers.

Communication is vital to the success of your project. We’ll join your construction team as partners, working with CM’s and GC’s locally and across the nation in either a highly engaged or light touch capacity, depending on your needs and your construction practice.

Our team works with local and nationwide AHJ’s both personally and through our relationships with expeditors. We’ll ensure your project moves into construction on time.

Some products and improvements require modifications to building design and engineering systems rollout in unison to make a big impact on sales at strategic times. Cushing Terrell has been helping coordinate these kinds of large-scale efforts for years in support of some of the nation’s largest retailers. To accommodate efforts like these, we build teams comprised of team members who are well-versed in program delivery, can anticipate challenges before they arise, and can respond to travel requests on short notice. We deploy our teams strategically to reduce time and travel expenses by coordinating survey efforts and have large design teams equipped to complete multiple new stores, remodels, small projects, and end of life strategies.

Your engineering and fuel systems are vital to your operations. This is why we will work with you in rolling out replacement programs, starting with systems evaluations, developing replacement plans, and implementing those plans. Our team has assumed the role of both consultant and service-provider offering our knowledge and experience for design, equipment procurement, delivery, installation, and quality control.

“One thing that we love about working with Cushing Terrell is the breadth and talent of their services. We started off with a focus on store design/fixture planning and now have the company handling our architectural, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and refrigeration design, as well as creating our interior design and coordinating décor. Every project we’ve completed with Cushing Terrell has exceeded our expectations.”

Susan Allen, Director
Town & Country Markets, Inc.

Bringing it All Together

C-stores and fuel centers represent a unique combination of interacting spaces, structures, and systems. Connecting fuel systems to car washes, to vendor-leased restaurant spaces, to a quick-service market requires specialized knowledge at every stage. Our team will call upon experience from our retail, commercial, and other markets as well as reference work with previous C-store and fuel center partners to ensure your establishment performs at its highest potential.

C-Store and Fuel Center Partners

  • Albertsons
  • Hy-Vee
  • Loaf n’ Jug
  • Town Pump
  • Wawa

Equipped to Serve Every Size Store, from Small and Independent to National Programs

Licensed in all 50 states and in parts of Canada, Cushing Terrell is ideally situated to optimize retail environments large and small. Each requires the depth and discipline of a well-rounded team, equipped with the specialized knowledge to encourage forward-thinking, highly functional operations.

On a national scale, we partner with some of the world’s largest retailers to craft progressive spaces at the program level. At the same time, our 13 offices position us to operate with a wealth of local knowledge to inform our less expansive partnerships. Our team provides the widespread creative and technical support needed to sustain lasting and successful relationships across the U.S.

Ready to design with us?

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