Carpenter, the third generation to run a family petroleum business that started in 1935, opened the first ShortStop near the Ankeny Walmart in 2001 and soon began to focus on replicating that concept, said the report. The Urbandale, Iowa, company [image-nocss] over the next few years added five more ShortStops in Des Moines, West Des Moines, Coralville and Marion, but recently has had a difficult time finding suitable locations to expand.
"There's limited growth potential for someone my size in Des Moines," Carpenter told the newspaper. "We need to grow, and with the elephants that roam around us, it's been really difficult."
Ankeny-based Casey's and West Des Moines-based Kum & Go have their corporate headquarters in the Des Moines area. Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip also maintains a major presence in the city, and grocer Hy-Vee, West Des Moines, has added gasoline dispensers at several of its locations in recent years, the report said.
Carpenter said a strategic review of his firm recently led to the decision that it might be better off in an area where the competition for high-traffic real estate is not as intense. Freedom to grow would mean more efficiencies and spreading costs over a wider base, he said.
"It's kind of a strategic decision," Carpenter said. "There has to be a point where you realize you're just not going to get where you need to be.
"I could adjust," he said, stressing that all six stores remain profitable. "I could say, 'I'm comfortable just operating six stores.' It does work. It works for us now. That's just not what I want to do."
Carpenter, who will retain the rights to the ShortStop concept, the report said. He told the paper that he plans to continue living in Iowa and has not yet decided where to launch his next venture. Possibilities range from building new ShortStops to buying an existing small chain in another state.
"I'm planning on staying in the business," he added. "I'm just going to look for another place to do it."Carpenter also serves on the executive board of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS). And his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee was prominent in recent industry efforts for passage of debit-card "swipe" fee reforms. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)Bill Walljasper, senior vice president and CFO for Casey's, told the Register that his company expects to take over ownership of the ShortStops in late October and will immediately rebrand them as Casey's locations. That includes the Ankeny ShortStop, which sits roughly a block away from an existing Casey's that the chain has no immediate plans to close, the report said.
The mostly urban purchases would be a rare move for Casey's, which built its approximately 1,550-store chain (1,531 as of June 2010) mostly with rural Midwestern locations. Company statistics cited by the paper show 61% of Casey's stores sit in communities with a population of 5,000 or less, 87% in communities smaller than 20,000.
Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey's, which is the target of larger acquirers itselfincluding Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. and Japanese-owned, Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. (see ongoing coverage in this issue of CSP Daily News)has recently signed commitments to buy 52 stores by the end of this year, part of its goal of expanding its footprint by 4% to 6%. The chain is also planning an expansion into Arkansas, according to the report.
And according to its Facebook page, Casey's has announced store openings, or upcoming openings, in Bloomington, Ill.; Riceville and Sioux City, Iowa; Clearwater, Haysville, Kansas City and Pittsburg, Kansas; Eagle Lake, Minn.; and Polo and Nixa, Mo.The Pittsburg location held a grand-opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday, reported The Morning Sun. The new store is nearly twice the size of the company's typical convenience stores, said the report. It features an expanded pizza kitchen and sub sandwich shop; a gourmet coffee and pastry counter; a wood-paneled interior; sitting area; larger restrooms; and a spacious fuel plaza.
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