LOVELAND, Colo. -- Greater Midwestern convenience retailer Kum & Go LC opened its first store in Loveland, Colo., on February 12, said The Loveland Reporter-Herald. Meanwhile, eastern convenience chain Sheetz Inc. has broken ground on a new store in Milton, W.Va.
Kum & Go, which has approximately 30 stores in Colorado and more than 400 in 12 states, decided about two years ago to build in Loveland. "It's taken us several years to go through the city and the various steps," Meggan Kring, spokesperson for Kum & Go, told the newspaper. "We hope now that [image-nocss] we made inroads in the Loveland community, we hope the next store will be an easier process."
This year, the West Des Moines, Iowa-based company plans to open three more Front Range stores, she added. The company operates inIowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin.
"Kum & Go, fortunately, is in a place financially where we're experiencing growth right now," Kring said. "While other convenience stores are experiencing a downturn, it's actually been an opportunity for Kum & Go. We anticipate anything we open will stay open."
The grand opening for the Loveland store, which sports 16 fueling locations, began last Thursday and will continue for four weeks with discounted pricing on various products inside the store, said the report.
Moving from the Rocky Mountains to Appalachia, Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz hosted a luncheon and groundbreaking ceremony yesterday to celebrate the beginning of construction on a new 5,000-square-foot store, Huntingtonnews.net said.
The new store is one of several Sheetz stores planned for the Huntington-Charleston corridor, the company said. The company operates more than 350 locations throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.
It is considered a welcomed addition, according to Milton Mayor Betty Sargent. "The traffic, the number of jobs, the type of facility they have to offer, will be a great boost for our area and I think it'll be a nice blend for Milton," she told WOWK-TV.
"I'm just so thankful that we have something like Sheetz coming, while the economic times are the way they are," Cabell County Circuit Clerk Adell Chandler added.
"We don't have any plans to slow down right now," president and CEO Stan Sheetz told the news outlet. "The consumer is treating us very well, and we're doing well as a company and we intend to keep growing."
The Milton location is one of four Sheetz stores being built in the region, he said. The other locations include Barboursville, Huntington and Hurricane. All stores are expected to be open by the end of the summer and employ an average of 30 people per store, the report added.
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