Dive Brief:
- Convenience retailer QuikTrip has opened its first location in the Windy City — a remote travel center in Bellwood, a suburb about 12 miles west of downtown Chicago, according to a recent announcement.
- Like QuikTrip’s other travel centers, this location features a larger parking lot, 20 gas pumps and six diesel bays for trucks, along with an expanded foodservice offering compared to traditional QuikTrip stores. The location officially opened on May 18.
- This comes about eight months after QuikTrip disclosed plans to enter the Chicago market, and work is currently underway on more locations in the area, according to the announcement.
Dive Insight:
When QuikTrip announced its Chicago expansion back in September, its first area location was expected to be in Lansing, a suburb about 25 miles south of the downtown area. That store and additional sites in Peru and Effingham are still in the works, according to the announcement.
Although this marks the sixth QuikTrip in Illinois, the Bellwood travel center is the retailer’s first site near Chicago, with the rest being located hundreds of miles south near the border of Missouri.
Located directly off Interstate 290 — a highway that goes into downtown Chicago — QuikTrip’s latest travel center aims to serve travelers coming in and out of the city, a company spokesperson said in the announcement.
QuikTrip debuted its travel center concept in 2020, and has since grown the format to more than 20 locations in various states, including Tennessee and Mississippi. These locations are specifically designed for highly traveled areas of the U.S. that are also within proximity to a QuikTrip distribution center for access to fresh food.
On the foodservice side, QuikTrip’s travel centers feature expanded made-to-order QT Kitchens, which offer barbecue, pizza, tacos and more.
Tulsa, Oklahoma-based QuikTrip operates around 1,000 c-stores in 17 states.
