ANKENY, Iowa -- After months of hinting at a move into Kentucky and Tennessee, Casey's General Stores Inc. announced yesterday that it will break ground on its first site in Kentucky this month and move into Tennessee likely before the end of the year.
"We are excited about continuing the development of our store expansion into other states," said Robert Myers, president and CEO of Casey's General Stores Inc.
The first store will be located in Cadiz, Ky., marking the 12th state in which Casey's operates. The company also has land under contract in Tennessee with plans to break ground next fiscal year, which begins this spring, making it Casey’s 13th state, as reported in a Morgan Keegan/CSP Daily News Flash yesterday.
"We plan to open our store in Cadiz later this summer, with additional sites in Paducah and Henderson to be built later in the year,” Myers said. “We believe there are many communities in this state that fit perfectly with our business model."
Casey’s first hinted at making a move into these new states, as well as Michigan, about a year ago, when it opened its first store in Arkansas.
"In anticipation and in movement to ramp up store growth, ... we've actually quadrupled the number of outside realtors to assist in bringing sites, not only for new-store construction, but also acquisitions, to the table," CFO Bill Walljasper said in April 2010.
“[Arkansas, western Kentucky and western Tennessee] are opportunities for us," Walljasper said in December. "We have land secured in Kentucky; we have land under contract in Tennessee; we have additional sites under contract in Arkansas. … As we start to penetrate those states, hopefully we'll gain a little traction on acquisitions in those states as well."
The chain opened its first store in Arkansas in April. At that time, Walljasper said Casey's stores could begin springing up in Kentucky and Tennessee as soon as the first quarter on the company's fiscal 2013, which begins in May 2012.
Based in Ankeny, Iowa, Casey's is one of the largest convenience store chains in the country. As of Jan. 31, 2012, the company owned and operated 1,686 stores in 11 states.
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