(Radio Iowa) – The C-E-O of the Casey’s Convenience store chain says customers are continuing to weather the economy with a few changes in spending. C-E-O Darin Rebelez says 75 percent of their customers are upper income, or make 50-thousand dollars or more a year. “We’re in a very affordable geography so that 50-thousand dollars goes a lot further in our footprint than it might in some other geographies,” he says. “So all that being said, in the upper end, we’re not seeing much change with the consumer. They’re visiting the store as frequently buying as they have historically bought.” Rebelez says those on the lower end of the economics have made some changes.

“We’re not seeing a change in frequency of visits, but we are seeing a change in decisions that they are making. In some cases, that basket is shrinking a little bit, so they may forego that one extra item that they might have bought,” Rebelez says. He says candy seems to be one area where customers are looking for more of a bargain.”One of the things I thought was interesting when we dug into this is that consumers have been trading out of candy because candy’s been a lot more expensive, particularly chocolate, with a rise in cocoa prices and shifting over to our fresh bakery products, like cookies and brownies, that sort of thing,” Rebelez says.”

It’s still a sweet indulgence, but about half of the cost on the prepared side, as it is on the candy side.” Rebelez says the candy trade off helps the customer and the company. “Those guests are looking for that indulgence. They still want to get it. They’re just finding a more affordable way to do that,” he says, “and we’ll take that trade all day long because the penny profit is better on our prepared side and the margins higher.”

Rebelez spoke at the company’s “Analyst Day” on Tuesday at their headquarters in Ankeny. Casey’s operates around 26-hundred stores in 17 states, with most of the stores in the Midwest.