Royal Farms expanding to Michigan, its first location outside the East Coast

Dive Brief:

Royal Farms is expanding to Michigan, with plans to open a c-store inside the new Romulus Trade Center being built in Romulus, a suburb about 20 miles West of Detroit, according to a report from Fox 2 Detroit.
The store will be Royal Farms’ flagship location in Michigan, according to the trade center’s building plans — its first outside the East Coast.
Royal Farms’ move to Michigan highlights the c-store industry’s growing focus on new market expansion, as numerous chains this year have also announced plans to open stores in new states of operation.

Dive Insight:

The 2-million-square-foot trade center will be located at the corner of Viking and Wick Roads in Romulus, just across Interstate 94 from the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.

The first businesses inside the center are slated to open in spring or summer of 2023, while the rest of the complex is expected to open in the next four to five years, according to the Fox 2 Detroit report.

Robert McCraight, Mayor of Romulus, told the news outlet that although he cannot disclose which businesses are moving into the complex besides Royal Farms, the trade center will create 1,500 new jobs.

“They have a great product,” he said of Royal Farms. “Big on the East Coast, we’re trying to break them into Michigan and out of their market.”

Founded in 1959, Baltimore-based Royal Farms currently operates about 250 stores in Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The company is known for its Royal Farms Kitchen program, which features made-to-order bone-in fried chicken, chicken tenders, chicken sliders, salads, breakfast sandwiches and more.

Royal Farms did not respond by press time to a request for more information on the move to Michigan.

Royal Farms’ expansion plans come amid a flurry of other chains also revealing new builds in new markets. Just this week, Wawa began construction on its first c-store in Alabama, in Fairhope, which is expected to open in 2024. The chain also revealed plans earlier this summer to open its first of many stores in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2025.

Also this summer, Buc-ee’s opened a new site in Springfield, Missouri, and disclosed plans to expand to Colorado in 2024. Additionally, EG America debuted its first Cumberland Farms stores in the Gulf Coast of Florida and Alabama, while QuikTrip opened its first c-store in Colorado this summer.