GREENSBURG, Kansas -- The Kroger Co. regional convenience store chain Kwik Shop Inc. is the latest business to commit to rebuilding in Greensburg, Kansas, reported The Wichita Eagle. Greensburg, about 110 miles west of Wichita, was decimated on May 4 by an F5 tornado.
The Hutchinson, Kansas-based chain has announced plans to rebuild its destroyed store on U.S. 54, the same day that it opened temporary operations in the store's parking lot, said the report.
Kwik Shop officials opened the makeshift store for business again Tuesday [image-nocss] at the West Kansas location, selling milk, bread, snacks, cold drinks and cold water. The temporary store will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. daily while a new store is built, a process that could take up to two months, Kwik Shop president Mike Hoffmann said in a statement.
Plans for the new store also include a new gasoline facility, he said.
Down the street from Kwik Shop, Dillons supermarket, also owned by Cincinnati-based Kroger, was also destroyed by the tornado, the report said. Kroger officials said last week that no decision has been made on rebuilding the Dillons store.
Several other businesses have verbally committed to rebuild, Greensburg Mayor Lonnie McCollum said. "It's good news," he told the newspaper. "If we can get a group of businesses together to come, then we're well on our way."
Kwik Shop was the first business besides a bank to start functioning again, added a report by KWCH-TV.
"We wanted to get back in business as quick as we could and let the people of town know we're here for them and the construction guys as well and just be here to offer what we can on a limited basis right now, Dave Bennett with Kwik Shop told the news outlet.
Kroger currently operates 779 c-stores in 16 states, under five banners, includingalong with Kwik Shop (more than 150 stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska)Loaf N' Jug (Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming), Quick Stop Markets (California and Nevada), Tom Thumb Food Stores (Florida and Alabama) and Turkey Hill Minit Markets (Pennsylvania).
The company operates 2,507 supermarkets and department stores in 31 states under banners including Kroger, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less, King Soopers, Smith's and Smith's Marketplace, Fry's and Fry's Marketplace, Dillons, QFC and City Market. It has 579 supermarket fuel centers.
Click here for Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius' Greensburg disaster relief webpage.
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