WEST DES MOINES, Iowa -- New retailer Yesway, which has 31 convenience stores in Iowa, has picked up seven new retail outlets in two states from three sellers, including its first in Kansas, CSP Daily News has reported.
Yesway has acquired five Pic Quik stores in Hutchinson, Kan., one Krueger's BP location in Grimes, Iowa, and one Pronto Market in Kanawha, Iowa.
Click through for details on the acquired stores …
Dan and Deb Fast have owned Pic Quik since 1982, taking over the chain from Deb’s parents, Ed and Vickie Fitzgerald, who started the chain of c-stores 51 years ago.
The Fasts said that they had been talking with Yesway for about nine months after family members decided they did not want to continue with the Hutchinson-based family business, they told The Hutch Post.
Dan Fast is a past president of the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association of Kansas (PMCA).
While Yesway has purchased five stores, the Fasts will continue to operate a sixth Pic Quik location, rebranded as South End PQ, they told the newspaper.
After nearly 50 years in the convenience-store business, owner Don Krueger is retiring following the sale of his last remaining Krueger's BP gas station and convenience store to Yesway, reported The Des Moines Register.
Krueger opened his first gas station in 1968 in West Des Moines. At its height, the business owned nine locations in the Des Moines metropolitan area, all bearing the Krueger name.
To mark the end of an era, Grimes, Iowa, Mayor Tom Armstrong declared March 16, 2017, as "Don Krueger Day" in the city, said the report.
"The citizens of Grimes, Iowa, have been able to count on Don Krueger to provide a welcome community gathering place," the city proclamation read.
Rebecca Teiken, senior information technology manager at Yesway, presented Krueger with a plaque at the Grimes store while the chain's inventory team worked in the aisles, preparing for the transition, said the report.
"People are proud of you," Teiken said. "And we're proud to be a partner of yours."
Krueger operated the store for 16 years. It is now Yesway's 33rd store in Iowa and its first in the Des Moines metropolitan area.
Photo: Betsy Krueger (left), Cathy Krueger, Don Krueger, Rebecca Teiken and colleagues of Yesway. (Source: Yesway)
Pronto Market c-stores began in 1977 with a location in Elk Run Heights, Iowa, followed by a second opening in Hudson, Iowa. Since then, Pronto has expanded to 21 franchise stores and three company stores across Iowa and Nebraska.
Yesway has a “robust” acquisition pipeline, the company said, and it said it plans to acquire, improve and rebrand approximately 500 c-stores as Yesway convenience stores in selected regions of the United States over the next several years.
Yesway began to build its c-store network with the acquisition of 10 Country Store locations in December 2015. In July 2016, it acquired 21 locations from Kum & Go.
West Des Moines, Iowa-based BW Gas & Convenience, doing business as Yesway, is a unit of Brookwood Financial Partners LLC, Beverly, Mass.
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