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Convenience center sees franchising growth in future
Executives at Express Convenience Centers announced they will sell two retail outlets to Kwik Trip, Inc. The Appleton stores are located at 4735 Converters Drive and 2175 S Memorial Drive.
Company leaders say the sale is part of a bigger strategy to grow opportunities for franchising the Express Convenience Center brand. The retailer recently announced a new franchisee in Green Bay and is currently negotiating with additional franchisees across the state.
“Increasingly, we are focusing our activities on helping independent owners? expand their business base,” said Jim Anholzer, general manager of Express Convenience Centers. “We will continue to serve our customers through our existing retail outlets, but long term we can bring Express-branded services to a wider range of consumers through expanding our franchising efforts.”
According to company executives, expanding franchise agreements also offers advantages to the independent retailer. Convenience store owners are able to leverage the purchasing power, expertise and marketing power of an established brand rather than investing in building a free-standing brand.
“When independent retailers come to work every day, their primary job is to serve their customers,” said Anholzer. “By taking advantage of Express programs to increase sales in coffee, soft drinks and food, they can offer customers a completely different level of service.”
In addition to marketing, franchise arrangements offer independent businesses the advantages of savings on fuel and purchasing groceries as part of a larger buying group. Future franchise agreements also give retailers access to Express proprietary brands such as Dashboard Jo™ coffee and Dashboard Dining™, which is their regional partnership with Festival Foods to offer fresh deli products at all Express branded stores.
Express executives say they have aggressive plans to open franchised stores throughout Wisconsin in the next year.
The sale of the two retail locations to Kwik Trip will be completed on March 15th .
Express Convenience CentersTM is a division of U.S. Venture and owns and operates 19 retail outlets located in Wisconsin throughout the Fox Valley, Oshkosh and Green Bay as well as three franchise outlets. The stores are a leader in guest-focused convenience shopping. For more information, please visit http://www.expressconvenience.com
