FRESNO, Calif. -- The U.K.'s Tesco grocery giant lost more than $250 million in 2009 on its U.S. small-grocery chain even as it slowed the growth of the venture. Yet, Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy still believes Fresh & Easy will be a success for one very specific reason: Convenience "is a relatively underinvested segment of retailing" in the U.S., he said.

Speaking at the National Retail Federation's Convention & Expo in New York, Leahy expanded on the thought. "Convenience is the fastest-growing sector of retailing around the world. One exception, interestingly, is the U.S.," he said. "We felt there was an opportunity in the U.S. [in] this broad area of convenience, so we invested in Fresh & Easy. We believe—hope—this will be a sector that will grow into the future."

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The number of U.S. c-stores fell 0.2% over the past year and stands at 144,541 as of Dec. 31, 2009, according to the just-released NACS/Nielsen TDLinx 2010 Convenience Industry Store Count. Last year's count was 144,875, a difference of 334 stores. This is the second straight year the count has declined and only the fourth time in the last 15 years that the count has declined. The count reached a high of 146,294 stores two years ago.

"The decline is driven by fluctuating gas prices and many retailers, especially single-store owners, not being able to keep up with the expense and operating at a profit," said Nielsen's Todd Hale. "Consumer purchases with payments by credit cards—and the associated interchange fees paid to the card companies by retailers—have been a real problem for the industry and for single-store owners."

Tel AVIV, Israel & ABBOTSFORD, Victoria -- Investment house Metis Capital is moving forward on the sale of its stake in Petro Group Ltd., which owns 350 U.S. gas stations, to Australian gas station and c-store operator United Petroleum, reported Globes.

Metis, the holding company of Petro Group Ltd., the parent company of GPM Investments, has been in talks to sell Petro Group to an Australian gas station operator, David McComas, CEO of GPM, told CSP Daily News earlier this month when reports of a possible deal first surfaced. GPM owns and operates the Fas Mart and Shore Stop c-store chains.