JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. -- Over the past three years, Gate Petroleum has slowly and quietly been reimaging its Gate convenience stores, embracing foodservice and underscoring the stores’ connection to their communities.
The Jacksonville Beach, Fla., store featured here opened in early November after a raze-and-rebuild. It is the ninth Gate store to feature the chain’s newest design built around Gate’s Fresh Kitchen, a fast-casual cafe serving freshly baked breakfast sandwiches and pizza.
Take a Look Around
CSP spoke with Misty Skipper, vice president of marketing, communications and government affairs for the chain, to learn more about this 6,400-square-foot c-store.
Q: Share some history and background about Gate Petroleum.
A: Gate Petroleum Co. was founded in 1960 by Herbert H. Peyton, starting with a single convenience store in Jacksonville, Fla. Since that time, Gate has grown into a heavily diversified company operating in a variety of industries, including retail convenience stores, car washes, fleet and fuel services, real estate, hospitality and construction materials.
Today, Gate owns and/or provides fuel service to a network of approximately 200 retail stores throughout the Southeast, approximately half of which are operated by and branded Gate.
Q: How has Gate made itself part of the markets in which you do business?
A: Throughout its history, Gate has worked hard to connect with the people and communities it serves. This includes an emphasis by store employees to engage with their neighbors, schools, businesses, etc., and encouragement for employees at all levels to volunteer their time, talents and treasures with organizations they feel passionately about. In addition, Gate has a robust corporate philanthropy program, the Gate Foundation, which has contributed tens of millions of dollars to organizations that nurture and protect the well-being of families and our community.
Gate Employees at Work
Q: Tell us about this store.
A: The prior Gate store in this location served the community for decades. As Gate looked to continue expanding our services and products to meet customer needs at this location, we determined that the prior facility, at 3,800 square feet, was not large enough to provide all that our customers are looking for inside a Gate store. This led us to raze and rebuild the store.
Our newly constructed store is approximately 6,400 square feet and sits on about 1.5 acres. The store has 24 fueling positions that have a combination of E10, E15, E85 and ethanol-free products. The store design features Gate’s Fresh Kitchen. This location also serves Yobe frozen yogurt with a toppings bar, as well as other customer favorites, including Best Bean Coffee and fountain areas.
Q: How does this store signify a strategy change for Gate Petroleum?
A: Beginning in 2016, Gate moved to a store design that places an emphasis on foodservice, including prominence of open-air coolers with fresh, to-go food products. This store is a continuation of that focus, but also serves as a test market for new cold-brew and nitro coffee products.
This is our ninth store with a similar interior layout. All nine of the stores are in northeast Florida.
Gate has worked hard to connect with the people and communities it serves.
Q: How does this store cater to your consumer base?
A: Our customer base is very diverse, from those customers who work outside all day and come in to get ice, drinks and affordable, quick meals to moms who frequent our stores to get snacks and treats for their children and millennials looking for new, trending products. Whether they’re focused on affordability, freshness or healthy options, we attempt to have something for everyone available at each daypart.
Q: What does Gate’s new-store growth strategy look like in the near future?
A: Gate is committed to providing the best, safest experience for our customers at the pumps and inside our stores. As such, we are in the process of examining our network to determine the best approach to serve our customers well into the future. This includes a raze-and-rebuild of some stores, expansion or remodeling of existing stores, and the addition of new facilities.
STORE STATS
Size: 6,400 square feet
Address: 2520 S. 3rd St., Jacksonville Beach, Fla.
Fueling spots: 24
Opened: November 2018
Notable details:
- Fresh Kitchen foodservice concept
- Yobe frozen yogurt
- Brewed nitro and cold-brew coffee
- A variety of ethanol-level gasolines
Explore Recent Grand Opening Locations
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla. -- With a new store design in place, Gate convenience stores is bringing foodservice to its customers is familiar ways--roller grill, packaged sandwiches and bakery--and few unique ways that the chain hopes will set it apart.
"The store design features Gate’s Fresh Kitchen. This location also serves Yobe frozen yogurt with a toppings bar," Misty Skipper, vice president of marketing, communications and government affairs for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based chain told CSP Daily News. This site "also serves as a test market for new cold-brew and nitro coffee products."
Here's a look inside the 6,400-square-foot store that opened on Jacksonville Beach in November ...
At the pump, fuel options range from the E85 ethanol blend to ethanol-free fuel for boats and small engines.
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