SUPERIOR, Wis. -- Kwik Trip will bring its compressed natural gas fueling systems to Superior, Wis., as part of its plans to open at least three new stores in the market during the next year or so.
The La Crosse, Wis.-based company that opened its 400th convenience store this month is planning stores on North 28th Street and Tower Avenue, Banks and Belknap streets, and at the site of the Nemadji truck stop in Superior, according to a report in the Duluth News Tribune.
So far the company has acquired one of those locations, said chief financial officer Scott Teigen.
“We won’t be building any stores until next spring,” Teigen told the newspaper. “We also have a contract on the Nemadji truck stop, and we’ll be leveling that.”
The Superior City Council has yet to approve a convenience store for the third site being considered on Banks Avenue between Belknap and North 14th streets. Kwik Trip has proposed a 3,900-square-foot convenience store with five islands featuring 13 pumps for gasoline and diesel fuels, in addition to compressed natural gas, an alternative fuel that sells for about half the cost of gas.
“In our opinion, that’s the fuel of the future,” Teigen said. “It’s really starting to grow in the country with the big rigs. We’ve got 26 of our trucks now that run on natural gas. The operating cost is half. Will it stay half? Probably not. If we want to be energy-independent in this country, that’s the way to do it.”
The Banks Avenue store will be bigger than the one planned for Tower Avenue, Teigen said.
The company is planning to make about $5.8 million in improvements at the site. And it is doing it with the blessing of the Superior Business Improvement District.
The company plans to add approximately 15 new locations in 2013 and is expanding into two new markets, Superior, Wis., and Duluth, Minn., Teigen said in February.
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