LAWRENCE, Kansas -- A convenience store on the Kansas Turnpike northeast of Lawrence, Kansas, is closing for reconstruction, meaning drivers will need to look elsewhere for food, fuel and collectibles during the next six months, reported The Lawrence Journal World. The EZ Go Convenience Store at the turnpike's Lawrence Service Area, which is five miles east of the East Lawrence interchange, closed Monday morning for a "raze and rebuild" project, Carey Johnson, president of Carey Johnson Oil Co. Inc., which owns the EZ Go group, told the newspaper.
The c-store and [image-nocss] fuel pumps will be expected to reopen July 1, said the report. A McDonald's restaurant at the service area will remain open during construction.
The $3.7 million project will add more bathrooms and fixtures, and nearly triple the size of the convenience store, Johnson said.
The number of fueling stations for drivers will go from eight to 24, he said, and the station also will be expanding its variety by providing three grades of fuel, up from the current two, as well as offering E85.
Truckers will be able to use a separate, six-lane area equipped with "ultra high-flow" diesel, Johnson said. The pumps will have credit card readers, something that has not been offered before.
Carey Johnson Oil is financing the bulk of the construction project, just as it did for a new convenience store and fuel operation at the turnpike's Belle Plaine Service Area, which is south of Wichita and the last such area on the turnpike. That new store, a $3.8 million project, opened August 22, said the report.
Johnson expects the project northeast of Lawrence to boost sales. Sales in the c-store should rise by 75%, he told the newspaper, while fuel sales should go up at a lower rate.
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