OAK BROOK, Ill. -- Growth grabs headlines when it happens all at once with a big acquisition. But frequently, even for national and regional convenience store chains, it happens incrementally—one or two stores at a time. In a recent spate of such activity, Kum & Go and Express Mart have opened new sites, and several other major chains—QuikTrip, Quick Chek and 7-Eleven—have started construction on new stores.
Kum & Go
West Des Moines, Iowa-based Kum & Go LC has opened two new c-stores, one in Greeley, Colo., and the other in Elk Point, S.D.
The [image-nocss] Greely store is part of the new Cedarwoods retail center. The store features 16 fueling stations offering unleaded, super unleaded, premium, diesel and E85 fuels.
This is the third Kum & Go location in the Greeley area; the first opened in Greeley in 2006, and the second, in nearby Evans, opened last year. The new location is the 26th store in Colorado. Kum & Go plans to continue its growth in Colorado with eight new stores scheduled to open throughout the year.
The Elk Point store is located just off Exit 15 on Interstate 29. It has an adjoining Subway restaurant. The new store features 20 fueling stations for cars and light trucks and offers unleaded, super unleaded, premium and E85 fuels.
The location has been annexed into the city of Elk Point. "The city of Elk Point was great to work with throughout the construction process," said John Feldman, vice president of construction for Kum & Go. "They were very helpful and excited for the new store. We are glad to bring economic development in the form of sales and property tax generation and jobs to Elk Point."
This is the 20th Kum & Go location in the general vicinity of Elk Point, adding to the 10 stores in Sioux Falls, S.D., and the nine stores in Sioux City, Iowa. Kum & Go plans to continue its growth in South Dakota with one additional new store scheduled to open in Sioux Falls in October.
Kum & Go has offered E85 since 1997 and currently offers it at 27 stores. Both 3,400-square-foot stores integrate heavily insulated glass, LED cooler door lights and energy-efficient coolers into their energy-efficient design.
Kum & Go stores feature a wide selection of food and beverage products, including Java Ridge Premium Coffee, Napa Creek and Sea Ridge wines and Go Fresh Market Sandwiches. It also offers potato chips, bottled water, cookies and candy under the Hiland proprietary brand name.
The company has more than 430 c-stores in 12 states—Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wyoming and Wisconsin.Express Mart
DeWitt, N.Y.-based Express Mart Convenience Stores has opened another Buffalo, N.Y.-area location, in Cheektowaga, N.Y. It will hold a grand opening celebration in May.
Express Mart has opened three new stores in the Buffalo area in the last six months. The two previous stores are in Elma and Tonawanda.
This location offers Mobil gasoline. Foodservice includes pizza and Anchor Bar wings. The store also offers sandwiches, beverages, snacks alongside grocery items and fresh produce.
Express Mart is wholly owned and operated by Petr-All Petroleum Corp. It has more than 50 retail outlets in Upstate New York as well as several franchise locations.
QuikTrip
Tulsa, Okla.-based QuikTrip Corp. will open its 36th Wichita, Kansas, store, a 4,600-square-foot, $350,000 building, in July or August, company spokesperson Mike Thornbrugh told The Wichita Eagle. The store will open in July or August, employing from 11 to 15 people. It will include eight gasoline pumps servicing 16 vehicles, along with the company's standard inside fare of drinks, food and other items.
QuikTrip is "never out of the growth business," Thornbrugh added. "Wichita is an area that will continue to grow for us."
The retailer currently has approximately 480 c-stores in nine states.Quick Chek
Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Quick Chek Food Stores Inc. will build a gas station/c-store in Kingston, N.Y., reported The Kingston Daily Freeman. Construction is likely to begin within a month, a city official told the paper.
The company's original plan placed part of the business in a residential zone, but the company later altered the plan to keep the station and store entirely within an existing commercial zone.
QuickChek also is putting up a station and store in Lake Katrine, N.Y., and plans to build one in Ulster, N.Y. According to its website, the retailer will also open stores this year in Hillsborough, N.J., in spring 2008 and in Lafayette, N.J.; Wantage, N.J.; and Wallkill, N.Y., in fall 2008.
Quick Chek has approximately 110 retail convenience food store locations in New Jersey and New York. It also operates 12 pharmacy stores.7-Eleven
Dallas-based 7-Eleven Inc. has started construction on a c-store with fuel islands in the Allied Gardens neighborhood of San Diego, said The Mission Times Courier.
The project has been in planning for 2 years. The construction had a slight setback, said the report, but is now expected to be completed in two months. "We ran into a problem in the ground with an old oil tank from the Chevron" that previously occupied the site, Mark Haines, a developer for the project, told the paper.
The new store will be owned by 7-Eleven initially and will be franchised out after the store's initial startup, the report said.
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.