The New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association held its 2026 Conference and Expo on Thursday, September 10, at the Bally's Event Center in Lincoln, Rhode Island. We attended with our friends at Teddy's Stores and Danby's Gasoline Marketers, and it was great catching up. It was a full day: Tom Kloza on the fuel market and a NACS industry update in the morning, a lunch keynote, then three and a half hours on the floor.
The floor was a lot of familiar faces. The fuel suppliers, distributors and brands that New England stores buy from every week were all there. There were new faces too, most of them selling technology to the store.
Who was on the floor
NECSEMA published 51 exhibitors. PMI, Reynolds American and Altria were the title sponsors, with PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast and Gulf Oil among the other sponsors. Here is the floor sorted the way a store owner would sort it.
| What they sell | Companies |
|---|---|
| Fuel supply and energy | Global Partners, Irving Oil, BP, Petroleum Marketing Group, Paraco Gas, Freedom Energy Logistics |
| Distribution and wholesale ordering | Core-Mark, The NCD, Max Distributing, Eastern Ice, RepRally, S&S InnoVisors |
| Tobacco and nicotine | PMI, Altria, ITG Brands |
| Beverages | PepsiCo, Polar Beverages, Monster Brewing, Spindrift, Geloso Beverage, Bucked Up |
| Food and snacks | Chester's Chicken, Calise Bakery, New England Ice Cream, Novamex, PopZup |
| Equipment, service and compliance | JF Petroleum, Owl Services, Icon Containment, Comprehensive Compliance, Equipment Resources |
| Store fixtures and supplies | T-Lines, Kent Store Fixtures, Lacerta Group, Apter Industries |
| Technology and services | 99 Bottles, Solink, GSTV, AviVaTech, Ice Cobotics, Massachusetts State Lottery, U-Haul |
| Also on the floor | Highway Partners, Paragon Designs, Premier Mfg., and more |
The rest of the list covered tires, local snack and drink makers, and more. The full list is on the NECSEMA site.
The familiar faces
New England is a tight-knit fuel market. Global Partners and Irving Oil are two of the region's biggest fuel suppliers, and BP and Gulf flags fly over a lot of its stations. Core-Mark and The NCD fill the shelves. JF Petroleum services the dispensers and tanks. Those relationships go back decades for most of the operators in the room, and a regional show is where they get renewed in person: next year's programs, a new rebate, a handshake on a supply deal.
We also hung out with our friends at Gulf, and stopped and talked with Core-Mark, Owl Services and 99 Bottles, among others.
That is the value of a show this size. NACS in Las Vegas has over 1,200 exhibitors. NECSEMA had 51, and you could talk to every one of them in an afternoon.
The new faces
The newer names were mostly technology for the store itself. Solink sells video tied to the register, so a manager can pull the clip that goes with a voided sale. GSTV runs the screens on top of the pump. Ice Cobotics brought floor-cleaning robots. Icon Containment was there for the spill containment under the dispensers and tanks, which every site owner in the room has to answer for.
What was missing: the back office
None of the 51 exhibitors sells back office or fuel accounting software. There was no booth to see how a load gets invoiced, how a commissioned agent gets settled, or how the month closes. The big back office vendors save their booths for NACS in Las Vegas.
That matters more in New England than most places. A typical marketer here sells motor fuel to dealers, runs a few stores or agent sites, files fuel tax in three or four states that are an hour apart, and often carries heating oil or propane on the side. That is a lot of software for one office, and the operators who need it most had no one at their own show to ask about it.
Where FastDragon fits
FastDragon is the modern back office for independent fuel and c-store operators. Wholesale, commissioned-agent stations, company stores, compliance records and the general ledger are separate modules on one login, and the books are kept by entity, so the fuel company, the store company and the real estate company each close on their own. It runs from one site up to dozens and about 100 million gallons a year.
We are part of the New England fuel and convenience community, and FastDragon is built by people in the fuel business since 1995.
If you were in Lincoln and the software question came up over lunch, you can see ours on the Fuel Jobber page or book a live walkthrough on the demo page. The vendors who will be in Las Vegas are in our NACS Show 2026 software guide.
Questions people ask
When and where was the NECSEMA Expo 2026?
The NECSEMA Conference and Expo 2026 was held Thursday, September 10, 2026, at the Bally's Event Center at Bally's Twin River in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Morning sessions covered the fuel market with Tom Kloza, beverage categories and a NACS industry update, followed by a lunch keynote from Art Sebastian of NexChapter. The expo floor was open from 1:00 to 4:30 PM.
What is NECSEMA?
NECSEMA is the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, the trade group for c-store operators and motor fuel marketers across the six New England states. Its yearly expo in Rhode Island brings those operators together with their fuel suppliers, distributors and brands.
Who exhibited at the NECSEMA Expo 2026?
NECSEMA published 51 exhibitors, among them Global Partners, Irving Oil, BP, Core-Mark, PepsiCo, Polar Beverages, JF Petroleum and Solink. PMI, Reynolds American and Altria were the title sponsors.
Were any fuel back office software companies at NECSEMA 2026?
None of the 51 published exhibitors sells back office or fuel accounting software. The technology on the floor was store video, pump-top media and cleaning robots. New England operators shopping for back office software, including FastDragon, book demos with vendors directly.
What back office software fits a New England fuel marketer?
A New England marketer usually needs motor fuel wholesale, fuel tax in several states a short drive apart, commissioned agents or company stores, and often heating oil or propane. FastDragon covers wholesale, agents, stores and the general ledger by entity, from one site to dozens.
Bring us your load and we will run it live
Sources
Date, venue, sponsors and the exhibitor list from NECSEMA 2026 Expo and the 2026 exhibitor list, read October 1, 2026. NACS exhibitor count from nacsshow.com.