Casey’s General Stores is going to have a busy 2025 in Texas.
The fast-growing c-store retailer is building at least seven new stores across the state, according to filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, as first reported by C-Store Dive.
Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s first planted its flag in Texas at the end of 2023, with the acquisition of W. Douglass’ Distributing Ltd.’s 22 Lone Star Food Stores.
- Casey's General Stores Inc. is No. 3 on CSP's 2025 Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains by store count.
Last July, Casey’s acquired 148 more stores in Texas, after it purchased the 198-unit CEFCO Convenience Stores from Temple, Texas-based Fikes Wholesale in an all-cash transaction for more than $1.1 billion. That deal increased Casey’s c-store portfolio by 7%.
“Our store growth strategy focuses on both building and acquiring new locations across our footprint, and that includes Texas,” a Casey’s spokesperson told CSP. “We are actively permitting future, new-store builds and we will also continue to evaluate and plan for CEFCO store transitions, which we’ve said is a multi-year process. This is an exciting time at Casey’s and we look forward to serving more guests in Texas.”
According to the permits filed with the state, construction has already begun on Casey’s stores in Tioga, Texarkana, Burnet and Abilene, with construction set to start in the coming weeks on a second Abilene location as well as Gladewater and Athens. All of the projects are slated to be completed by the end of the year.
The new-to-industry projects range in estimated cost from $762,000 to $1.2 million, and the stores will all be around 4,500 square feet, according to the filings.
With the openings, Casey’s will be bolstering its presence in the state with the most convenience stores. Texas has 16,416 c-stores, according to the most-recent data from NACS, more than 4,000 more than second-place California.
The move also positions Casey’s as a major competitor in the state with Lake Jackson, Texas-based Buc-ee’s, which has more stores in Texas than in any other at 36. Both convenience chains are known for their robust foodservice programs.
- Buc-ee’s is No. 136 on CSP's 2025 Top 202 ranking of convenience-store chains by store count.
Casey’s operated 2,890 stores in 20 states as of the beginning of the year. The c-store retailer tends to opt for new construction in small towns and neighboring areas, though it has been more acquisitive in recent years. In 2023, the company purchased 63 locations from Westborough, Massachusetts-based EG America. Two years before that, it bought 94 stores from Omaha’s Buchanan Energy.
In March, Casey’s reported that its store count growth increased 10% over the prior year, an “encouraging sign that the economic impact of the stores we're building and buying is greater than the company average,” CEO Darren Rebelez told analysts, according to a transcript from financial services site AlphaSense.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.