The first branded Kwik Trip in Illinois is among 32 new stores in the c-store chain’s expansion plans this year and into early 2024.
Minnesota leads the growth with 11 new locations, then eight in Wisconsin, six in South Dakota, four in Iowa, two in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the Illinois location, David Niemi, public relations representative at the La Crosse, Wisconsin-based company, told CSP.
The two in Michigan, in Bessemer and Ironwood, will double the number of locations in the Upper Peninsula.
The Illinois location, a “big one in truck format” in South Beloit on the Wisconsin border, is the first Kwik Trip in the Land of Lincoln even though Kwik Trip does own two Stop-N-Go locations, in Dixon and Rochelle, Niemi said.
- Kwik Trip is No. 11 on CSP’s 2023 Top 40 update to the 2022 Top 202 ranking of convenience store chains by store count. Watch for the full 2023 Top 202 in June.
Kwik Trip acquired the Stop-N-Go locations a few years ago but left the store name because they were too small to be renamed.
The Minnesota cities that have gotten or will get new Kwik Trips are Waconia, which opened Jan. 19; Lino Lakes, opening July 28; Elko New Market, Aug. 25; Worthington, Sept. 22; Redwood Falls, Oct. 6; East Bethel, Nov. 3; Melrose, Dec. 1, Kasson, Dec. 15; Cambridge, Jan. 5, 2024; Marshall, Jan. 19, 2024; and Luverne, Feb. 2, 2024. There will be 213 Kwik Trip locations in Minnesota after these openings.
The company has not released the names of the cities where the other Kwik Trips will open, Niemi said.
Regarding the Minnesota expansion, Niemi said, “With our relay delivery model, we are able to deliver fresh food from La Crosse further than ever. That includes new markets in western Minnesota we have not reached before.”
The relay delivery model, Niemi explained, involves a driver from La Crosse driving a loaded truck to a relay point and swapping it for the previous day’s empty with another driver, who lives in the destination area and will take it the rest of the way.
“That way, all of our drivers maintain safe, legal behind-the-wheel hours, distant stores get a fresh delivery every day, and all of our drivers are home at the end of the day,” he said. “All of the food still comes from our production facilities in La Crosse, Wisconsin.”
Kwik Trip in January announced its expansion into South Dakota under the Kwik Star name. Those stores are expected to start opening in the fall.
Kwik Trip also opened a location in Centerville, Minnesota, on Dec. 29, 2022.
The growth of Kwik Trip, which added nearly 50 stores in 2022, will someday compel it to build another distribution center.
Kwik Trip is one of the biggest independently held c-store chains in the country. It serves customers in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin—and soon South Dakota—under the Kwik Trip and Kwik Star banners. It produces more than 80% of the products sold in its stores, supplied by its own bakery, commissary, dairy and distribution center.