POWELL, Tenn. -- Convenience retailer Weigel's Stores Inc., with more than 60 locations in the Knoxville, Tenn., area, is making its first foray into another urban center with plans to open new locations in the Chattanooga, Tenn., region, reported The Times Free Press.
The company's initial Chattanooga-area store, costing approximately $2.5 million, will be ready next spring, CEO Bill Weigel told the newspaper.
He said the Powell, Tenn.-based company initially is looking at putting up four stores, but he'd like to have even more in Chattanooga and North Georgia.
"I'm green at this," he said. "I've always kept them close where I could get to them every day."
Weigel said the Chattanooga area is geographically the closest to the company's existing stores.
"That's the natural way of expanding," he said, adding that a new Sweetwater, Tenn., store slated to open later this year will be the company's most southerly location to date.
According to the report, Weigel's major competitors in the Chattanooga region include Speedway, Pilot Flying J, RaceTrac's RaceWay and Murphy USA, which is building a new unit at a nearby Wal-Mart.
"If we're not capable of competing, we wouldn't be there. We have to compete here. It's the same there," he said.
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