Dive Brief:
- Family Express has begun building its first modularized convenience store, the Valparaiso, Indiana-based company announced on Tuesday.
- The store, in Ligonier, Indiana, can be assembled in days, speeding up the time to market. Several other locations are planned using the modular format, which Family Express said will help it meet an “aggressive” timeline for a $100 million buildout of new-to-industry stores, the company said.
- Family Express joins c-store retailers like Wawa and Murphy USA in testing out modular construction, in which the building is mostly crafted off-site, then assembled on the location.
Dive Insight:
One notable feature of this style of construction is that it reduces the amount of on-site time needed to build a store, meaning weather-related issues have a much smaller impact on the timeline.
“Our objective is to facilitate the rapid development of our Company and to remedy, to the extent possible, weather-related delays that are typical in the upper Midwest,” said Gus Olympidis, president and CEO of Family Express.
Family Express’ first modular site will include a 7,200-square-foot convenience store with a full kitchen and a car wash, according to the announcement. Other stores will go into development this spring across Indiana, with several already prefabricated and ready to move to their final sites. This surge in new stores will boost Family Express’ existing footprint of more than 80 locations.
Wawa has dabbled in prefabricated stores since at least 2023, using the method to construct several drive-thru-only sites. The stores were built in a warehouse over about 40 days, after which they were assembled at the location in a matter of days and ready for a certificate of occupancy within 20 working days.
