Jared Scheeler, CEO,
The Hub Convenience Stores Inc., based in Dickinson, North Dakota, and 2021-22 NACS Chairman
What are the highlights of your year as NACS chairman?
As a small convenience retailer from western North Dakota, I’ve treasured my decade-long participation in NACS leadership. Not only have I had a tremendous opportunity to give back to the industry I love so much, but it’s also enabled me to take my businesses to levels that wouldn’t have been possible without NACS.
NACS has a broad reach, and as chairman over the past year I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to impact on a national scale the small operators in our industry. In this age of consolidation, the role of small operators who invest in our local communities in deeply personal ways is becoming more and more critical. At the same time, it’s also harder for us to compete against larger retailers. That’s why it’s so important that small c-store operators pay attention to what’s happening in the wider industry and become involved in NACS and likeminded groups where our voices can be amplified.
When I became NACS chairman in 2021, I set the intention to be a voice for small retailers. During the past year, I’ve hosted in North Dakota three different small retailers from all areas of the country, and we learned so much from one another. Iron sharpens iron, and I encourage independent convenience retailers to continue to share their experiences with each other into the future.
Relationships are essential in our industry. Whether we’re talking about the relationships with our customers, our suppliers, or our community, relationships are at the heart of convenience stores. I’ve had the opportunity to forge many industry relationships in the past year, and I’m so grateful for that.
In one of my other jobs as a high school girls basketball coach, I work to help my players understand that ‘the process is the real prize.’ To me, that means that all of the little things— the wins and losses, lessons learned, adversity faced and relationships strengthened—are the things that endure. I applied this mindset to my tenure as NACS chairman as well.
It’s been an amazing year, but more so, it’s been a remarkably positive experience serving on the NACS Board of Directors since 2011. My engagement has helped move the needle on Capitol Hill. I’ve developed friendships that will last a lifetime. My business is flourishing. And in hindsight, it’s not just the past year that has impacted me. The past decade of engaging with NACS has been the real prize.