Category Management | A l c o h o l i c Beverages
BOLSTE
ADULT BEVER Adult beverage sales skyrocketed during the height of the pandemic. And for some convenience stores, the momentum created during this time is still carrying the category along. Marilyn Odesser-Torpey • Associate Editor
Early in the pandemic, without on-site consumption of adult beverages at bars and restaurants, many Americans turned to their neighborhood convenience stores for wine, beer, ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails and hard seltzers. At Rutter’s, which operates 82 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, adult beverage sales “reached volumes we certainly never even imagined,” said Sean Pfeiff, senior category manager at Rutter’s. “We will probably never again reach the 2020 and early 2021 numbers, but our adult beverage sales are still very, very strong and continue to grow exponentially,” Pfeiff noted. “With our strategic initiative of assortment, presentation and pricing, we have
