Family-owned convenience-store chain Jiffy Trip opened its first location in Arkansas on Feb. 23 in Siloam Springs, according to a series of Facebook posts. The store is also the Enid, Oklahoma-based chain’s first outside of its home state.
With the opening of this new store, Jiffy Trip has 28 locations.
“We wanted to diversify a little bit,” Jiffy Trip Chief Operating Officer Alex Williams told the Herald-Leader. “And so we looked at a lot of neighboring states and communities—[including] Northwest Arkansas—for a lot of different reasons.”
The plan to put build Jiffy Trips in Arkansas has been in the works for two years, Williams told the newspaper. Jiffy Trip had looked at all of the surrounding states around Oklahoma and found that Arkansas and Oklahoma have similar population numbers, he said.
Also, Arkansas does not have a lot of regulations, which make it easier to operate their business, said the report.
The company chose Siloam Springs partly because of U.S. Highway 412, which connects to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the northwestern Arkansas cities of Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville and Rogers, said Williams. Jiffy Trip is also planning to open stores in Fort Smith and Rogers, Arkansas, he said.
Along with Siloam Springs, Jiffy Trip locations are also planned for Fort Smith and Rogers, Williams said.
Jiffy Trip opened its first store in 1972 in Cherokee, Oklahoma. The new site offers Phillips 66-branded fuel, and the store features the chain’s JT’s Comfort Restaurant, bean-to-cup coffee, a “House of Beer” beer cave and more. It also offers the KickBack Rewards Program for free coffee, fountain drinks and food.
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