TULSA, Okla. -- QuikTrip Corp. said that it has opened its first location in the state of North Carolina this week, according to a report by KTUL-TV. The gasoline marketer and convenience store operator opened a store in Indian Trails, N.C., on Thursday. Five other locations in the state are under construction, the report said.
"QuikTrip is really excited about our first location in North Carolina," QuikTrip president and CEO Chet Cadieux told the news outlet ahead of the opening. "QuikTrip made the decision several years ago to begin operations in North Carolina. Thursday our goal will be realized."
Jamie Marchesano, vice president of store development, told KTUL, "Our store development team has done a terrific job finding the best sites that will give our employees the opportunity to grow and succeed with our company."
Cadieux says the new store is the company's Generation 3 prototype, which is larger and more modern than the standard QuikTrip store.
The company is accelerating the rollout of the prototype. The Generation 3 stores aim at a more upscale experience that can compete with coffee shops such as Starbucks. They are a larger, at 5,700 square feet compared to the typical 4,600 square feet, and offer hot and cold specialty drinks, smoothies and soft-serve ice cream, among other amenities.
(Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of QuikTrip's Generation 3 stores.)
In other company news, QuikTrip has started construction on a store at the northwest corner of Interstate 44 and Peoria Avenue in Tulsa, Okla., just a few feet from the site of the first QuikTrip store, which opened in 1958, reported the Tulsa World.
The new store will be on the former site of the Camelot Motel, the iconic castle-like building that was torn down in 2008 after being vacant since 1996 (see Related Content below for previous coverage). Company officials said the new store eventually will replace a QuikTrip location about a half-mile to the north.
"We've wanted to build here for a long time, and we got a little ahead of ourselves," Mike Thornbrugh, a spokesman for QuikTrip, told the newspaper.
QuikTrip purchased the seven-acre Camelot property in 2007 and sold four acres in 2009 to Oklahoma Central Credit Union, which is close to completing its new headquarters building at the site.
QuikTrip wanted to open a new store in 2008 as part of the company's 50th anniversary and possibly even arrange the opening to be its 500th location, the report said. But QuikTrip officials opted to delay construction, knowing there would be years of road work at the intersection.
"We would have been losing money for years waiting for the congestion there to clear up," Thornbrugh said. "It was best just to wait."
The new location will also be one of the company's Generation 3 models, he said. The store is expected to open around September. Thornbrugh said ODOT officials have indicated that most of the road construction should be finished by that time.
Tulsa-based QuikTrip has approximately 600 stores in 11 states, with nearly 50 more stores under development.
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