Minit Mart Awards, Media & Industry Recognition
Local Roots. National Recognition.
Minit Mart has been part of Southwest Washington communities for decades. Operated by The Convenience Group, headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, our neighborhood stores have earned recognition for convenience retailing, community involvement, industry leadership and finding new ways to serve the people who live around us.
Along the way, Minit Mart, The Convenience Group and President and CEO Don Rhoads have been recognized by the Washington Food Industry Association, the National Association of Convenience Stores and national and local media.
Washington Convenience Retailer of the Year
The Convenience Group Named 2023-24 Convenience Retailer of the Year
The Washington Food Industry Association named The Convenience Group its 2023-24 Convenience Retailer of the Year.
The award recognized the Vancouver, Washington-based company for both its success as a convenience retailer and its commitment to the communities its Minit Mart stores serve.
WFIA highlighted The Convenience Group’s support of local food banks, schools, the Humane Society and a local hospital foundation. The organization also recognized President and CEO Don Rhoads for his leadership in the food and convenience retail industries at both the state and national levels.
The award received additional coverage from the Vancouver Business Journal, NACS and national food-retail publication The Shelby Report.
Coverage of the Awards:
- Washington Food Industry Association: The Convenience Group Named WFIA Convenience Retailer of the Year
- Vancouver Business Journal: The Convenience Group Named Retailer of the Year
- NACS: Convenience Retailers Recognized With Regional Awards
- The Shelby Report: WFIA Names Top Retailer of the Year, Other Honorees
National Convenience Industry Leadership
Don Rhoads Named 2022-23 NACS Chairman
Minit Mart’s leadership extends well beyond Southwest Washington.
In 2022, Don Rhoads, President and CEO of The Convenience Group, was named 2022-23 Chairman of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
As NACS Chairman, Rhoads led the association’s Executive Committee, which provides strategic direction and financial oversight for the national organization representing the convenience and fuel retailing industry.
Throughout his term, Rhoads traveled the country visiting convenience stores and meeting frontline employees while advocating for an industry built around people, neighborhoods and community service.
His leadership and philosophy have been featured extensively by NACS Magazine and national convenience-industry publications.
Industry Coverage:
- Convenience Store News: The Convenience Group’s Don Rhoads Named New NACS Chairman
- NACS Magazine: A Time to Give Back
- Convenience Store News: Merging Convenience & Community
- Convenience Store News: Don Rhoads Looks Back on a Year of Learning
- CSP Daily News: NACS Chairman Embracing Advocacy, Supporting the Front Line
NACS Master of Convenience
Investing in the Future of Convenience Retail
In 2023, Don Rhoads was named a NACS Master of Convenience, a designation recognizing convenience-industry leaders who have invested extensively in executive education and leadership development.
The recognition is awarded to leaders who have completed at least three NACS Executive Education programs and applied that education to the growth of their organizations and the convenience industry.
That tradition continues with the next generation of The Convenience Group’s leadership. In 2026, Donnie Rhoads of The Convenience Group was also named a NACS Master of Convenience.
Learn More:
Featured in Wine Enthusiast
Minit Mart’s Wine Selection Gets National Attention
A neighborhood convenience store might not be the first place you’d expect to find an impressive bottle of wine. Minit Mart has been challenging that assumption.
In 2025, national publication Wine Enthusiast featured The Convenience Group and Minit Mart in Convenience Store Wine Is Actually Good Now, an article exploring how convenience stores are changing the way consumers shop for wine.
The article reported that Minit Mart was the second-largest retailer of Rombauer wine in Southwest Washington and that individual Minit Mart locations carried approximately 200 to 400 wine selections.
President Don Rhoads explained the thinking behind it: customers who already know what they want can stop at their neighborhood Minit Mart, find a quality bottle and be on their way in minutes.
NACS later highlighted Minit Mart’s wine success in its own coverage of the growing convenience-store wine market.
Read the Features:
More Than a Neighborhood Store
Fruit Valley Village and a Different Approach to Convenience
Our connection to the communities we serve can be seen most clearly at Fruit Valley Village in Vancouver, Washington.
Minit Mart acquired the Fruit Valley location in 1968. In 2018, The Convenience Group began transforming the property from a traditional neighborhood store into a larger community-centered development.
The expanded Fruit Valley Village brought together a Minit Mart with grocery and fresh-food options and community resources including a food bank, credit union, housing and small-business resources, and a community kitchen and event space.
When NACS Magazine profiled Don Rhoads and Fruit Valley Village in 2023, it highlighted the idea behind the project: a neighborhood convenience store can be more than a place to buy something. It can also be a place that helps connect people with resources and strengthens the surrounding community.
The community event space has been made available to local organizations for fundraising, with its first event raising more than $20,000 for the local Boys & Girls Club.
Read the Stories:
Serving Our Community When It Mattered Most
NACS: What Being an Essential Business Means
During the COVID-19 pandemic, convenience stores were designated essential businesses. For The Convenience Group, being essential meant more than keeping the doors open.
NACS featured President and CEO Don Rhoads and The Convenience Group in its Ideas 2 Go series, What Being an Essential Business Means.
The national feature showed how The Convenience Group responded to the pandemic and economic downturn while finding ways to support its Southwest Washington neighbors, including a drive-through community food giveaway.
Rhoads was later invited to share that experience on stage at the NACS Show as part of a national discussion with convenience retailers who demonstrated resilience and community leadership during 2020.
Watch the Feature:
Clark County Food Bank Event at Fruit Valley Village
Fruit Valley Village Video 1
A History of Recognition
2017 WFIA Retailer of the Year
The 2024 Convenience Retailer of the Year honor wasn’t the first recognition Minit Mart received from the Washington Food Industry Association.
In 2017, Don Rhoads of Minit Mart was named WFIA Retailer of the Year, recognizing his leadership in Washington’s independent food and convenience retail industry.
The recognition was subsequently featured by The Columbian in 2018.
Together, the 2017 and 2024 WFIA honors reflect a long history of involvement in Washington’s independent retail industry and the communities Minit Mart serves.
Learn More:
In the Media
Minit Mart, The Convenience Group and Don Rhoads have been featured by national industry organizations, trade publications and local media for community involvement, retail innovation and leadership in the convenience-store industry.
Wine Enthusiast
Convenience Store Wine Is Actually Good Now
A national look at the changing convenience-store wine market featuring Minit Mart’s premium wine selection and Don Rhoads.
NACS Magazine
An in-depth profile of Don Rhoads, The Convenience Group and the community-centered approach behind Fruit Valley Village.
NACS Ideas 2 Go
What Being an Essential Business Means
A video feature following The Convenience Group’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its efforts to support the Vancouver community.
Convenience Store News
The Convenience Group’s Don Rhoads Named New NACS Chairman
National industry coverage of Rhoads’ appointment as 2022-23 chairman of NACS.
Convenience Matters Podcast
A Conversation With Don Rhoads
A conversation about The Convenience Group, Minit Mart and the importance of neighborhood convenience stores giving back to their communities.
Vancouver Business Journal
The Convenience Group Named Retailer of the Year
Local coverage of The Convenience Group receiving the WFIA 2023-24 Convenience Retailer of the Year award.
Harbor Wholesale
Customer Feature: Fruit Valley Village
A feature on Minit Mart’s history in Vancouver’s Fruit Valley neighborhood and the transformation of the property into a community-focused development.
Awards & Recognition
2026
Donnie Rhoads, The Convenience Group
NACS Master of Convenience
2024
The Convenience Group / Don Rhoads
Washington Food Industry Association Convenience Retailer of the Year
2023
Don Rhoads, The Convenience Group
NACS Master of Convenience
2022-23
Don Rhoads
Chairman, National Association of Convenience Stores
2017
Don Rhoads, Minit Mart
Washington Food Industry Association Retailer of the Year
About Minit Mart and The Convenience Group
Minit Mart is a locally operated convenience store chain serving Vancouver and communities throughout Southwest Washington. Minit Mart stores are operated by The Convenience Group, LLC, headquartered in Vancouver, Washington.
Our stores combine the convenience people expect from a neighborhood market with groceries, fresh food, coffee, local products, beer and wine, including a wine selection that has received national media attention.
Led by President and CEO Don Rhoads, The Convenience Group has a long history of leadership within Washington’s independent retail community and the national convenience-store industry.
But the recognition we’re proudest of still happens every day: being the neighborhood store our customers know they can count on.