In July 2022 the APCO Café 24/7 Wangaratta store was duly acknowledged by being awarded the NACS APAC Retailer of the Year. The collective effort of everyone at APCO to share a vision and then bring this to life, is incredible, and importantly this is well-deserved recognition for Brett & Karen Anderson, our Wangaratta store Retail Partners who are passionate about providing an incredible customer experience. We have delivered an exciting and innovating retail format that not just looks and feels great but is delivering outstanding sales results. The diversity and innovation in Australian convenience is amid an incredibly exciting time, and we are extremely proud of how we are evolving our retail and product offers to excite and delight customers, especially at out APCO Cafe 24/7 Wangaratta store which has spearheaded the “ultimate” modern, one-stop, top-up convenience store.
APCO Café 24-7 is delivering best in class fresh food quality and barista coffee aimed at creating a true, dedicated dining hall ambience. With consumers seeking shopping options that fall between full-fledged supermarkets and traditional convenience, APCO Café 24/7 and IGA X-Press Wangaratta has delivered on this expectation without losing all the value attributes that convenience has to offer and has become known for the friendliest, easiest place to shop on your block in Wangaratta, 24 hours a day.
APCO is a Member of the Australian Association of Convenience Stores (AACS), the peak body for Convenience Retailing in Australia, who in turn is a member of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) based in the United States, the largest & oldest representative for Convenience Retailers globally. NACS segment the global retailers into 2 zones – the Asia Pacific Region & the European Regions. The Asia Pacific region includes all of Asia, India, Australia & New Zealand.
The AACS run an annual competition to identify the latest in store formats, retail innovation & brand development to identify the best Australian Convenience Retailer. The judging criteria is aligned with the NACS Global criteria to ensure consistency of the process. In March 2023, APCO Wangaratta was awarded the Australian Convenience Retailer of the Year award, which automatically enters them into the NACS Asia Pacific Convenience Retailer of the Year Award. The awards are held at the NACS APAC Convenience Retail Summit which were held in Singapore on 20th July. This year, there were over 15 entries into this award category, and the judging panel selects 3 finalists.
In 2022, Australian Retailers were strongly represented with 2 of the 3 finalists positions, which is a testament to the transformational journey of the traditional service station into a destination for the local community providing everyday essential products, grocery items, food for now & food for later, barista coffee to name a few of the services they provide.