QuikTrip (Tulsa, Okla.) is hanging up the pump at another branch of its convenience-store chain. The company is finalizing construction on its second gasoline-free convenience store inside the BOK Tower in downtown Tulsa, Okla., reports grocery industry news outlet, Grocery Dive.
QuikTrip, ranked 29th on Forbes list of largest privately held companies, is embracing the trend of c-stores focusing more on selling premium prepared foods and household goods, says Aisha Jefferson-Smith, Corporate Communications Manager, QuikTrip.
The crossover trend from jack-of-all-trades to providers of high quality foods continues to blur the lines between convenience stores and grocery stores and restaurants. QuikTrip’s first gasoline-free site, which opened in Atlanta in 2016, included the chain’s QT Kitchens concept — its prepared food-service program. The QT Kitchens program offers prepared foods throughout the day, and the Atlanta site was the first of the company’s new-concept stores to offer made-to-order sandwiches.
Although this only marks QuikTrip’s second gasoline-free store to open in the past six years, the company intends to roll out more of these locations moving forward, Jefferson-Smith says.
Specifically, QuikTrip wants to open gasoline-free sites in urban downtown areas that serve city dwellers looking for a convenient option for food and household items. Prepared foods earned $302,346 in average sales per U.S. convenience store in 2021 — a 21 percent increase over 2020, according to the National Association of Convenience Stores.