Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores Inc. will open 25 travel stops and remodel existing locations in 2023, as well as add 15 Love’s Truck Care and Speedco locations and 30 new restaurants, the company said in an update to its strategic growth plans. It expects to add 2,000 employees chainwide in 2023.
- Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores is No. 14 on CSP’s 2023 Top 40 update to the 2022 Top 202ranking of convenience store chains by store count. Watch for the full 2023 Top 202 in June.
Plans to remodel existing stores include bathroom updates as well as complete remodels. Stores undergoing updates will remain open during the process.
Customers will also see the continued expansion of Love’s-branded snacks and food items including trail mixes, beef jerky, cold-pressed juices and fresh food items like macaroni and cheese, quesadillas and barbecue offerings this summer.
Love’s will also expand its RV network with the addition of 30 RV locations and 1,000 hookups, bringing the total to more than 1,300 hookups across the country; the company will also add 80 to 100 Amazon Lockers, bringing the total to more than 200; and new and exclusive deals for customers through the Love’s Connect app, including the recently announced 10-cent-per-gallon fuel discount for gasoline and casual diesel drivers.
For professional drivers, the company also recently announced partnerships with Interstate Batteries for batteries and with Daimler Truck North America to provide light mechanical warranty work on Freightliner vehicles, adding another service point for customers.
With the 15 new truck care locations, Love’s will add 75 maintenance bays, 75 emergency roadside service trucks, two tire retread centers and expanded services to fleet yards.
Love’s also continues to offer services to professional drivers by expanding training opportunities for diesel technicians and mechanics with the addition of two new Love’s Truck Care Academies, giving the company four locations to train team members. Love’s Financial and Factoring services will also continue to help get drivers back on the road quickly with its bundled service options and expansion into adjacent factoring industries.
“What Tom Love started in 1964 has evolved into more than a store that offers gas, and we’ll continue to push the envelope with the addition of new services, amenities and partnerships,” said Shane Wharton, president of Oklahoma City-based Love’s. “Being innovative and strategic with what we do adds reasons for customers to choose us and we’ll continue to find new ways to offer good value at competitive prices across the Love’s Family of Companies.”
Love’s opened 29 locations in 2022, including the company’s first store in Connecticut in July and the milestone of opening its 600th location in October in its home state of Oklahoma.
In other Love’s companies news, Musket Corp., a trading and logistic company and a producer of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), will continue to grow its partnership with Circle K with fuel and terminal procurement; Gemini Motor Transport is adding 325 new trucks this year and replacing 250 older mileage units; and Trillium Energy Solutions will support the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) plan with its established network of more than 80 EV charging stations across the country and the addition of new units.
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