Rob Knight isn’t a rookie in the convenience store space. He got his start in the business driving trucks for Keurig Dr Pepper, then known as Dr Pepper/Seven Up, in the 1980s. Over the course of the next 20 years, Knight moved up through the ranks, eventually leading national accounts for major c-store retailers across the country. 

In 2010, he joined c-store co-op group Independent Buyers’ Company (IBC), which worked with about 800 convenience retailers at the time. Six years later, Knight bought out IBC, and today, the co-op has grown to 7,600 retailers across 300 chains in its network.

So when Knight recently got the chance to start his own c-store chain, he saw it as not only the defining moment of his career, but as his “40-year-old brainchild.”

“It's almost like the perfect storm, where all my dreams and ambitions and everything I've done just kind of all come full circle,” Knight, CEO of IBC, said in an interview. “This is kind of like the final chapter — rolling out my own brand.”

In March, Knight and his son Joey debuted the first Easystore in Arlington, Texas, right across the street from IBC’s corporate headquarters. The new convenience store is still part of the co-op group, but unlike the other retailers in the network, Easystore is owned and run by Knight and his son. 

The store is an extension of IBC’s existing Easy-branded portfolio, which also includes its Easystore Pro back-office system and Easystore Print custom printing service.

Although the first Easystore location just got off the ground, with its grand opening held in mid-May, more are on the horizon, as Knight wants to eventually reach 100 sites in North Texas. However, those stores won’t be owned by Knight and his son, but instead by IBC’s various retailers, some of whom have expressed interest in buying future Easystores ever since the first opened, Knight said. 

He and his lawyers are currently crafting a plan to roll out more Easystore locations so IBC's members can begin buying them.

“We'll just own the license to the Easystore brand, but the member will own the building and the land,” Knight said.

The name of the new c-store encapsulates Knight’s mission for this brand.

“I built Easystore around the concept of being easy without sacrificing quality,” Knight said. “Make everything easy for the customer.” 

The new store

While it includes c-store staples from snacks and candy to dispensed beverages and coffee, foodservice is the main attraction inside the 7,200-square-foot Easystore. But unlike many retailers who nowadays focus on made-to-order food operations, Easystore’s team sticks to premade and frozen options, such as hot dogs and corndogs, pizza, lasagna, breakfast sandwiches, popcorn and baked goods.

For consumers who’d prefer made-to-order food, there’s a co-located Taco Casa QSR on the other side of the building, where customers can purchase burritos, tacos, salads, nachos, burgers and more. It includes a drive-thru for customers who’d rather stay in their vehicles.

Also inside the store are four TVs — two over the register, one over the cold vault and another over the coffee bar. Each screen features the various products offered throughout the store at different times of the day, and is meant to prompt customers to buy them on impulse, Knight said.

“Most people go into a store knowing, ‘Okay, I want a Gatorade and a Red Bull,’” Knight said. “But if you can catch them with that turning display, they'll look and go, ‘Oh wow, two hot dogs for three bucks.’”

Outside on the forecourt, Easystore has seven fuel pumps — which the retailer will soon offer proprietary fuel for — and is currently installing two electric vehicle charging stations.

The location initially had eight fuel pumps, but in sticking to its name, Knight decided to remove one.

“I was trying to make it easy at the pump for getting out or pulling through,” he said. “If you're coming around, you can now pull through the pumps and you're not getting blocked,” he said.

A learning experience

Despite his decades of experience in c-stores, opening his own location has taught Knight things that he wouldn’t have been able to learn otherwise, especially on the merchandising and sales sides of the business.

“It's kind of my baby to learn and tweak and do things here before I roll it out to [IBC’s] whole membership,” he said. “I can test a concept here and have data to show our membership, ‘Look, we did this, and this is the result we got.’”

Knight has also learned some of the specific challenges of running his own c-store. The biggest right now, he said, is the tight supply chain and costs to build new locations.

“Just staying in stock and keeping the brand mix right and getting deliveries on time — those are some of the challenges I see up front,” he said.

For now, Knight and his team are squarely focused on building and growing the Easystore locations. But he wouldn’t jump too far ahead when asked if he foresees an expansion outside of Texas. 

“That would probably be past my lifetime,” he said. “My goal right now is 100 in North Texas.”