Dive Brief:
- BrakeTime Corner Market is planning to build and open 35 new convenience stores by the end of 2026, co-founder and CEO Usman Bashir said in a recent interview with C-Store Dive.
- The first three stores are expected to open in the next couple of months, Bashir said. Those stores will be in the Houston area, while the rest will be scattered across Dallas; Tempe, Arizona; and parts of Kansas, Colorado and Arkansas.
- This marks the first set of new builds for BrakeTime, which has only grown its roughly 300-store network through acquisitions since the company was founded over two decades ago.
Dive Insight:
According to Bashir, BrakeTime only had about five c-stores when he joined the business — which his father founded in 2004 — about 11 years ago. Since then, the company has acquired hundreds of c-stores across several states, including 48 CEFCO c-stores from former parent Fikes Wholesale in mid-2022 and 62 sites from EG America in 2024.
Although BrakeTime doesn’t plan on stopping its deal-making, Bashir and BrakeTime are now shifting their attention to new builds, which will help create consistency from location to location, he said. Foodservice will be a focal point of these first 35 stores, which will each include a kitchen that can support in-house food programs that differ by region, Bashir said. The company even has a QSR concept in the works that combines American, Mexican and Chinese cuisine.
Beyond 2026, BrakeTime wants to build 20 to 30 stores every year, Bashir emphasized.
“Our major focus is we want to build up our own gas stations,” he said. “I feel like the future is new gas stations — not these old stores that have been there for years.”
BrakeTime’s rise over the past decade has made it one of the fastest-growing mid-size convenience retailers in the industry. Other companies that have experienced similar growth patterns include Majors Management, H&S Energy Group and Nouria.
