LINCOLN, Neb. -- U-Stop Convenience Stores Inc. is planning its largest convenience store and gas station in Hickman, Neb., and it has plans to bring a similar-sized store, without fuel, to the historic Haymarket district in Lincoln, Neb., next year, reported TheLincoln Journal Star.
The Hickman convenience store will dedicate 8,500 square feet just to grocery and personal items, said the report, and the store will have a Godfather’s Pizza. It also will have several gasoline and diesel dispensers.
Mark Whitehead, president of Whitehead Oil, which owns the U-Stop chain of 21 c-stores with gasoline and car washes, said he expects the new location to open in early January.
The company chose Hickman for the new large-format store because that location, which used to be a Casey’s General Store, is outdated, “being kept together with duct tape and baling wire,” Whitehead told the newspaper, adding that it is undersized, with only two fuel pumps and no room to add more.
Another reason is that Hickman is one of the fastest-growing communities in the state and has just one small grocery store.
Whitehead said the Hickman U-Stop will still be a convenience store but should be “a good alternative” to driving into Lincoln to go to a supermarket.
The new U-Stop will carry grocery staples such as fresh meat and produce and deli items.
Whitehead said he hopes to have a U-Stop Market open in Lincoln’s Haymarket by third-quarter 2017. Although the two c-stores will be similar, they will serve very different demographic groups, he told the newspaper.
In Hickman, people are 10 to 15 miles away from a supermarket but will travel, he said. In Haymarket, people are no farther than a mile or two from a large grocery store, but don’t want to travel that far, said Whitehead.
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