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Tampa, Florida (November 19, 2011) Meeting in the backdrop of national economic uncertainty that has significantly brought down their sales, convenience stores and gas stations owners at the seventh annual convention of the Asian American Convenience Store Association have vowed to join hands to enhance their collective bargaining capacity and purchasing power with large manufacturers and suppliers.

“We feel that all these store owners, mostly independents, are not getting the best price for buying their products from the manufacturers. Unity will enhance their bargaining capacity and purchasing power,” said Satya Shaw, president of the Asian American Convenience Store Association (AACSA) at the conclusion of the seventh annual convention of this trade body.

The day-long event on November 19, 20011 was kicked off by the ribbon cutting ceremony by Bollywood actress Saumya Tandon at the India Cultural Center in Tampa.

Headquarters in Tampa (Florida), AASCA was formed seven years ago after the arrest of some 50 Indian American store owners and their employees in Georgia as they were selling some products, which they should not have, because of their ignorance. In the last seven years AASCA through its awareness campaign and activism has ensured that there is no repeat of such incident, Shaw said.

AASCA today has a nationwide membership of about 10,000 convenience stores and gas station owners. According to unofficial estimates of the 146,000 convenience stores and gas stations in the United States some 50 percent of them are now being run by Indian Americans, a majority of whom are from Gujarat.

“This is an effort to bring them under one platform. Uniting of all the independent store owners and with their combined purchasing power would reduce the cost of their products and thus enhance our profits in these tough economic times,” Shaw said.

How to tackle the economic crisis was one of the major topics of deliberations during the education seminar held for the convenience store and gas station owners, which was addressed by eminent experts from the field and also law enforcement officials. Among those who addressed the seminar were Attorney Ricky Patel, Chase Harmer, & Michael Zielinski.

“Due to the current economic crisis, this year we have added some useful topic in the education seminar that will be beneficial to all store owners. Our strength and unity is the solution to ensure the growth and profitability of our trade,” said Chandrakant Patel, AACSA chairman, who is also the organizing secretary of the Overseas Friends of BJPP-USA. “This (collective purchasing power) is the only way Indian American convenience store and gas station owners can gain prominence and increase their business,” said Ronald L McDoland, an international restaurant business leader, author and philanthropist.

Author of several popular books including “McDonald's Franchise Buyer's Guide: How to Buy a Restaurant Franchise” McDonald addressed the convention and gave tips to participating convenience store and gas station owners on how to increase their collective bargaining capacity. “Look this group has the potential to be a powerful voice in the country,” said Ronald McDonald.

“As the US experiences one of its most historic periods of economic uncertainty and road to recover, convenience store owners are confronting many challenges: significant Tax increases for cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, implementation of stricter government laws and ordinances, restrictive supply-distribution policies; and a steady decrease in consumerism which all are factors that contribute to small profit margins,” said Vijay Gandhi, AACSA event chair. “In order to survive through this dire economic situation, we must rely on our resiliency and determination as we have done in the past. The convenient store industry is one of the few markets where one can live and profit from one’s efforts,” Gandhi said.

Reflecting the increasing strength of AACSA, the 7th annual convention attracted a record number of participation from convenience store and gas station owners. A record number of some 60 vendors had their booths installed this time. “We had to turn down a number of requests this year as we did not had space to accommodate them,” Shaw said. Some of the important vendors to attend this year’s convention were Vijay Patel of Star Oil Company, Atty Ricky Patel of Miami; VP Enterprises; Good Times; JJ Taylor; Hiten Shah of HTD Tobacco; Royal Buying Group; Central Bank; TCC Global, Camrose wine & spirits etc.

After being held in Tampa for seven years, the next year’s AACSA annual convention would be held in Chicago, Shaw announced. “This is time to move on and take AACSA to other cities,” Shaw said. The day-long event was capped by an evening of cultural extravaganza, which was compered by Bollywood actress Saumya Tandon. Besides presentation of cultural programs by young Indian Americans from local Tampa, artists from India, Atlanta, New York, New Jersey also enthralled the audience for hours till late in the night.

Tampa, Florida (November 20, 2010) A precursor to this year's holiday season, Tampa residents witnessed a day and night to remember as the Sixth Annual National Convention of the Asian American Convenience Store Owners Association (AACSA) held its Exhibition and Trade Expo and Gala Awards Banquet. The day events were marked with high level networking amongst store and business owners across the country, while the evening entertainment was full of excitement. “The Bollywood dance show featuring the gorgeous and talented actress and super model Pooja Batra, Fame Gurukul singer Shamit Tyagi, and Bollywood's all blind musical group “Black,” had the crowd roaring,” AACSA Event Chairman, Vijay Gandhi announced.

Founded in 2004, AACSA is the apex body of the Asian American convenience stores owners in the US. Over a thousand convenience store owners and operators from all across the United States attended the mega event to discuss the issues related to their business and welfare. The Hillsborough County Commission’s chairman Ken Hagan, was the chief guest of the event. AACSA chairman Chandrakant Patel coordinated the educational symposium featuring NACS Vice President Mike Davis for information on crime and environmental problem prevention. “The well-attended event attracted a large number of vendors targeting convenience store owners,” AACSA Director, Sudhir Shah said.

A highlight of the convention was AACSA forming an alliance with the Coca-Cola Company and American Beverage Association to fight against the proposed Federal soft drink taxes of an extra one-cent an ounce to raise $156 billion dollars over six years.

Business owners and all those who attended the day long expo also enjoyed the evening filled with entertainment. “Tonight, as we celebrate the 6th Annual AACSA Convention, we hope to renew the spirit of our friendship and form an even stronger bond with our members. It is our privilege to bring convenience store owners, Physicians and political dignitaries together on a single platform,” Satya Shaw, AACSA President, said.

The tireless efforts of the following people made this day a grand success: Satya Shaw, Vijay Gandhi, Chandrakant Patel, Paul Rock, Sudhir Shah, Shephali J. Rele, Angela Wilson, Jashu Bakriwala, Himatlal Parekh, Kamal Patel, Jay Patel, Yogi Patel, Tino Patel, Jayesh Patel, Neil Kapadia, Vinay Joshi, Vijay Patel, Bharat Patel, Nick Patel, Sanjay Pandya, Jitu Patel, Jatin Patel, Brijesh Patel, Shailesh Shah, Narendra Patel, Anil Patel, Dhiru Mehta, Eddie Joseph, Jimmy Panjabi, Masood Sial, Aziz, Pradeep Patel, Ketan Patel, Rakesh Patel, Sunil Panchal, Sunil Patel, Dhimant Soni, Atul Patel, and Rajan Patel. AACSA Ambassadors stated that they were very proud to be part of such a great team. The team is excited and looking forward to working together on several town hall meetings, and of course, the highly anticipated 7th Annual AACSA Convention in Chicago.

AACSA encourages all store owners and interested people to join them and become part of a growing association that can not only enhance their business on a daily basis but also make a huge difference in the community across the country.

Tampa, Florida (November 26, 2008) Meeting in the backdrop of the current financial crisis, which has affected their business by at least 20 percent, Asian American convenience store owners met in Tampa, Florida November 22 to have a brain storming session to evolve a joint strategy on their most pressing problem of the day.

Convenience store owners from all over the country attended the day-long fourth annual convention of the Asian American Convenience StoresOwners Association (AACSA). Founded in the year 2005, AACSA is the apex body of the Asian American convenience stores in the US.

Terming it as a historic meeting, Satya Shaw, AACSA founder and president said that this is for the first time that leaders of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) and AACSA have joined hands and come together on one platform.

"We will jointly fight for our cause," said Shaw, adding that topping their list is the issue of racial profiling which members of all the three organizations are facing. "Racial profiling is one of the issues, which is common to all three of us," said Dr Rajender Gupta, Chairman, Board of Trustees, AAPI.

AAHOA treasure, Hemant Patel, said time has come for the community to work together on the political empowerment of the community. The three organizations would work together on this issue, he said. "Nothing could be achieved without any political power," Patel said. AAHO owns 52 percent of the economy lodging in the country.

Addressing the fourth annual AACSA convention, Shaw said: "Many of us do not realize the strength we have in big community and the impact of our community."

He said: "There is no hospital in America without an Indian doctor, There is no highway in America without Indian motel owners and there is no town in America without an Indian store."

The current financial crisis, dominated the proceedings of the convention, wherein store owners discussed and shared among themselves the problem they have been facing in view of the drop in their business by about 20 percent.

"As most of us these stores are family run businesses, many of them have started themselves working at the stores and gas stations and lay off their employees," he said. "Income is down, because the volume (of trade) has dropped," Shaw said. "Owners are going back to work themselves, to reduce the cost of operation," he added.

Michael Davis, vice president of National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), praised the resilience capacity of the Indian American convenience store owners, who according to him knows the best how to survive under such adverse circumstances.

NACS is the apex national body of convenience stores in the US. Davis said there are more than 146,000 convenience stores in the United States with combined turnover of $570 billion. AACSA estimate that there are over 50,000 convenience stores run and operated by Indian Americans. "There is no town in America, without an Indian store owner," he said.

It is because of their resilience capacity, Davis said, he has hardly come across the closer of a convenience store owned by an Indian American. "They are excellent merchant and good negotiators," Davis said.

The Fourth Annual AACSA Convention also felicitated a number of eminent individuals for their contribution in the field of convenience stores. Prominent among them include Vijay Gandhi, CEO VP Enterprise; Delbert Wheeler, owner-King Mountain Tobacco; Sharad Patel , Siddharth Shah , Dr.Rajendra Gupta, AAPI Chairman; Vijay K Patel, CEO Kwick King Stores;Pankaj Patel,a to Z Discount Beverage; Dr.Venkant Emandi,Michael Davis, NACS VP; Hemant Patel, AAHOA treasurer; Jayantibhai Patel, multi-store owners; Laura Chin, Director of MONSTER Energy Drinks; Dr.Kantilal Bhalani, Dr Chandresh Saraiya, President, Ekal Vidalaya; Krishan Batra, Dr.Kiran Patel ,Michael Glassman of BP Global director,and Ankit Gandhi, Penn - Jeferson Medical College.

Over 70 vendors showcase their products and services at the Trade Show area. DK Bollywood Dance group from Toronto, and Sunehar Pal Music group from India entertained the audience of over a thousand.

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