3 Big Numbers is a weekly column that looks at a few key details from around the c-store industry.
As New Year’s Day and its promise of new beginnings nears, we thought it might be fun to dedicate this week’s column to the retailers who are already trying new things. Be it new looks, new banners or new partnerships, there were plenty of options to choose from around the industry, but we selected three recent examples that highlight key trends.
In today’s “3 Big Numbers,” we’re celebrating OnCue’s first 11,000-square-foot store, Casey’s and CEFCO combining their foodservice forces and Little Store’s initial tranche of sites.
11,174
The square footage of OnCue’s latest store and largest to date.
Bigger stores were a huge story this year, and OnCue got into the conversation when it debuted a 11,174-square-foot site in Oklahoma City earlier this month.
The store features a drive-thru window, self-checkout kiosks, a lottery kiosk and an expanded coffee selection. Customers can also try OnCue’s made-to-order foodservice program, The Grill, which has a menu that includes breakfast tacos and sandwiches, chicken strips, burgers, jalapeño chicken bites, chicken wraps, wings and pizza.
With this store, the Stillwater, Oklahoma-based company joins fellow retailers Stinker Stores, Rutter’s, Onvo and Weigel’s in pumping up their square footage this year to offer more space, more products and more amenities to their customers.
6
The number of sites Little Shop currently has under contract.
Numerous companies have exited the c-store space this year thanks to industry consolidation. But even as firms get overtaken by other operators, some new ones are showing up to offer unique programs or serve different areas. These have included Shelee’s, the first travel center owned by the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians; Cyclum Renewable Truck Stops, which has plans for over 400 sites; and Little Store.
Little Store is headed up by the chief finance officer of fellow c-store company KornerStore, which partially funded Little Store, who brings plenty of experience to the project. The two companies will share headquarters space in Duluth, Minnesota.
The first two Little Store locations — in Northern Minnesota — are expected to open in the first week of January. From there, we’ll see what kind of splash the chain can make.
12
The minimum number of months Casey’s General Stores expects it will take to get permits for remodeling and rebranding former CEFCO stores.
Switching gears to one of those acquired companies, Casey’s bought CEFCO’s 198 stores in the South earlier this year. While Casey’s plans to rebrand them all under its name over the next few years, there’s one aspect of CEFCO that might not be going away: CEFCO’s proprietary foodservice program, CEFCO Kitchen.
That program has been “pretty successful,” Casey’s CEO Darren Rebelez said during the company’s most recent earnings call. It features fresh prepared items across all dayparts, from breakfast tacos and biscuit sandwiches in the morning to CEFCO’s signature chicken “Cluckers” and brisket sandwiches in the afternoon and evening.
Rather than throw the menu out with the old branding, Casey’s plans to “quickly remodel a few” CEFCO locations to feature both brands’ foodservice programs. This will help Casey’s leadership understand how these offerings perform together.
Just don’t expect to see them anytime soon. The process of permitting and then remodeling usually takes at least a year, according to the call.
