OTTAWA -- Retailer 7-Eleven is pulling out of the Ottawa market and taking its super-cheap cell-phone service with it, leaving some customers in the lurch, according to a report in the Ottawa Citizen.

The retailer has sold all six of its Ottawa outlets to rival Quickie Convenience Stores, an Ottawa-based chain that will add the locations to its roster of 47 stores across Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.

ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University is one of three Ohio public universities participating in a new cooperative purchasing arrangement for convenience-store products, according to a report in Food Management magazine.

When their regular c-store distributor went belly-up late last year, Miami University (Ohio) and Ohio University found a way not only to replace the service but to improve it by pooling the contract and sharing the savings generated by the increased volume.

SAN FRANCISCO -- On the heels of former President Bill Clinton urging convenience-store retailers to get into electric-car charging stations during his address at the NACS Show, another impetus is coming from Nissan, which plans to roll out its first electric vehicles in five states next year and nationwide in 2012. Meanwhile, the Japanese automaker is racing to set up a recharging network quickly enough to be ready for them.

Tennessee, Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington are the states getting the vehicles first.