In smaller communities, fewer competitive threats means that retailers battling for market share can more fluently state their case about possessing the more optimal competitive advantage.
However, at Luke’s One Stop, Cissna Park, Illinois, the influx of a Dollar General store in mid-2025 on the outskirts of town kept owners Kari and Bryan Luke on their toes to protect their share of the local shopping pie.
“This was probably our most significant competitive threat since we’ve been in business,” said Kari Luke, speaking about the novelty of a new dollar store versus if it were another c-store/fuel stop.
“A local grocery store had closed in 2023, but the dollar store was more of a real threat. We have fuel retailers around us: unbranded, Marathon and Casey’s,” Kari Luke said. “The c-stores might encroach on our gasoline gallons, but dollar stores carry the allure of ‘ultra-low’ prices. When it debuted, we lost some sales on milk, bread and paper products.”
National dollar store prices don’t always better those of convenience—in fact, sometimes it’s just the opposite, Kari Luke said.
“The dollar store entry hurt us the first month or so, but things picked back up,” she said. “We lost milk sales, but we sell Prairie Farms milk, a quality brand at competitive prices. It’s funny that many dollar stores aren’t always the ultra-competitive option that people perceive them to be.”
Bryan Luke said that customers 35 years and younger were the ones to remain loyal to Luke’s from the start, while “older people on a budget might have turned to the dollar store based on the channel’s reputation for lower prices.”
Confident in its advantage
A local c-store armed with 43 years of experience, Luke’s One Stop was confident of its advantage—all underpinned by competitive prices, longtime loyal employees keen on excellent customer service and top-notch food, Bryan Luke said.
Located in an Illinois community of about 800 not far from Champaign, Luke’s One Stop’s solid reputation for quality barbecue fare precedes it. The Luke’s retired about two years ago from competitive regional barbecue cook-offs in such BBQ hot spots as Memphis, Nashville and St. Louis. When they participated, the couple typically won or landed in the top three of their field.
The food went away at the BBQ competitions, but it lives on for Cissna Park locals. The food’s advantage starts with local sourcing, Bryan Luke said. A few years ago, Luke’s forged arrangements with several local farmers who grow livestock, receiving weekly deliveries of beef, pork and chicken. All are, of course, locally grown fare that customers would otherwise have to drive miles away to procure, said Kari Luke, adding that their catering arm of business sees orders of as few as 10 and as many as 400.
Kari Luke said that when it comes to tweaking their menu—which has longed consisted of signature staples as pork, chicken, brisket and ribs—the mind frame is that “if it’s not broke, why fix it?”
“We’re always trying something new,” she said. “I started to prepare pepperolis (a take on a stromboli, which is a pizza-inspired jelly roll featuring pepperoni and mozzarella cheese rolled up in prepared dough) recently, plus chef’s salads and broccoli and cauliflower salads all seem to fly out of the door.” She said the pepperoli varies from a stromboli in that the pepperoli relies 100% on the pepperoni baked inside, while a stromboli includes more than one type of meat.
The foodservice arm of the business typically grows sales 10% to 15% a year. “People are calling for orders more often from outside our immediate area, which means that our reputation is expanding,” Bryan Luke said. “We pretty much depend on any new business via word of mouth.”
On the fueling side, the BP-branded retailer formerly with Phillips 66, Luke’s One Stop was the first retailer in the immediate area to offer self-serve fuel, first to offer pay at the pump and first to accept credit cards—all advantages that make the owners confident about their offer when it comes to competing retailers in their sector, Bryan Luke said.
“We have a Casey’s store located probably in every direction of our store,” Kari Luke said. “And they recently opened a new store in Hoopeston (Illinois) about 15 miles away.”
Luke One Stop fuel gallons were up 4% to 5% in 2025, but margins were thin, Bryan Luke said.
“We’re up against stiff competition locally, which makes it tough to expand margins, but we’re able to thrive with perks like our loyalty program,” he said.
Going forward, Kari and Bryan said they will continue to depend on their competitive advantage, spearheaded by the efforts of a sustained workforce that sees little to no turnover.
All employees are part-timers, logging less than eight-hour shifts per day. “We recently lost one employee but then gained one back in the past year,” said Kari Luke, adding that there are nine employees on the payroll.
After 43 years of operating Luke’s, Bryan Luke addressed the tricky subject of stepping aside to pursue new horizons.
“This business doesn’t get any easier, that’s for sure. But we are not ready to give up yet,” he said.
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