Kellogg Company has opened Cheez-It Stop, a convenience store focused around the company’s cheese-flavored snack cracker, according to a Monday press release.
The store is located at 61943 Twentynine Palms Highway in Joshua Tree, California, 128 miles from Los Angeles and 168 miles from San Diego. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. PST through June 11.
The location features collectibles and exclusive merchandise such as bags, sandals and even postcards, as well as both popular and rare Cheez-It flavors. Any merchandise left over from when the store closes will be available on the company’s website.
"We created this brand-first desert outpost to capture the excitement of summer road trips," said Erin Storm, brand senior director for Cheez-It.
Foodservice at the store is limited, with only Cheez-It products available. However, it does feature the Cheez-It pump, a device that will blow bags filled with the snack crackers through the window of willing visitors’ cars for free.
The store is a takeover of The Station, a revamped 1949 Richfield gas station that’s become a gift shop and rental destination for weddings and other parties. The site was closed from May 25 to June 5 to prepare for the Cheez-It makeover. The update included new signage and a massive gas pump for the large statue of a cowboy, dubbed Big John, that faces the road.
While this is the first Cheez-It-themed c-store, convenience retail has made occasional thematic transformations before. Most prominently, in 2017, 7-Eleven revamped some of its locations into Kwik-E-Marts, from the TV show The Simpsons, to correspond with the franchise’s first movie.
Kellogg did not respond by press time for details on if it had done similar things for other brands.
In addition to Cheez-It, Kellogg Company manufactures a number of c-store mainstays, including Pringles, Pop-Tarts and a variety of cereals.
