Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores is investing $700 million in building new locations and remodeling existing ones in 2026.
Love’s President Shane Wharton shared with media on Wednesday the travel center chain's plans to open 20 new stores and update 35 existing locations.
This is part of Love’s Road Ahead Plan—the initiative has a new name, but was first introduced in April 2023 when Love’s said it was investing $1 billion in 200 locations over the next five years. When that project wraps up in 2028, Love’s will continue to upgrade its stores, and said more than half of its 668 locations will be newly constructed or remodeled by 2035. Wharton didn’t put a price tag on that future investment.
“Our 2026 priorities reflect what has always mattered at Love’s, delivering a best-in-class customer experience every time, no matter the part of our business,” Wharton said. “This year, growth means new and updated locations, expanded food and snack options, added amenities for RVers and continued reinvestment in the business through a stronger loyalty program and updated technologies—all focused on strengthening Love's brand to drive customer value.”
- Love’s Travel Stops is No. 15 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count.
Love’s is taking its learnings from the last few years of remodeling stores, and trying a new strategy in 2026. It will now close locations while they’re being remodeled to complete construction faster. Love’s will still offer basic amenities like fuel, restrooms and light food and drinks to customers via a mobile building, the company said.
Love’s also plans on adding 1,500 truck parking spaces in 2026, for a total of more than 52,000 spaces by the end of the year. Two new truck care locations and four truck washes will also open in 2026. It’s also expanding its RV Stop network with 23 new stops.
Love's Rewards caters to casual customers
Love’s is also gearing up for the launch of its new Love’s Rewards program, Wharton said. Love’s Rewards program will now allow casual customers—in addition to professional drivers—to earn points per dollar spent inside the store and on gas and auto-diesel.
Customers began earning points on Feb. 1 and will see the updated program in the Love’s app beginning Feb. 14, Love's said.
For casual drivers, the new rewards program will allow them to save 10 cents per gallon of gasoline and 25 cents per gallon of auto diesel. They can also earn one point per gallon fueled, two points per dollar spent in-store and four points on Love’s drinks, snacks and fresh food.
There’s also a buy four, get the fifth one free offer for fountain drinks, coffee and teas, among other perks. Points expire if the account remains inactive for more than six months.
Professional drivers have a tiered loyalty system, where the gallons they fuel each month determine their status and points for the next month.
As consumers’ wallets tighten, Wharton said Love’s is making sure that they’re offering the right products and services its customers want at a good value.
“Our marketing team is working on lots of different promos, and we’ve got the new loyalty program that’s going to roll out that will give them more value, more ways to earn,” he said on how they're responding to economic uncertainty. “We view it as we’re positioned as well as anybody in our market and our competition to take care of the customers.”
Love’s Rewards will also support its Love’s Media Group retail media network. Love’s Media Group’s efforts will ramp up this year by transforming Love’s physical and digital assets into a unified advertising platform spanning the entire customer journey, Love’s 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.