Dive Brief:
- Casey’s General Stores plans to add at least 400 convenience stores to its network over the next three years, company leaders outlined during the retailer’s annual investor day on Wednesday.
- The stores will be added through a combination of new builds and small-scale acquisitions, mainly in small Midwestern towns within driving range of Casey’s distribution centers in Ankeny, Iowa; Joplin, Missouri; and Terre Haute, Indiana.
- Casey’s used this same strategy to grow its store count by more than 500 sites in its previous three-year growth plan, more than 150 locations above its target.
Dive Insight:
Three years ago this month, Casey’s outlined plans to grow its store count by 350 locations through a combination of newly built and acquired sites through fiscal 2026. When taking into account its purchase of Fikes Wholesale and its CEFCO c-store banner — the largest acquisition in Casey’s history — that number ultimately landed at 504 sites.
Speaking to a room of investors Wednesday in New York, President and CEO Darren Rebelez said that Casey’s will use that same playbook for the next growth phase.
“What you will not see today is a radical departure from a strategy that’s been clearly working,” Rebelez said.
Although Casey’s has been targeting new states such as Texas and Florida, the retailer sees “substantial white space” to expand in its Midwestern home base and even reach new markets in the region, Chief Operating Officer Ena Williams said. Specifically, about 75% of the towns with a population of 20,000 people or less within Casey’s distribution footprint do not currently have one of its stores, she added.
“I’m not saying you should expect a Casey’s in every small town, but this is just an illustration of the possibilities that exist within our footprint,” Williams said.
Chief Financial Officer Steve Bramlage emphasized that Casey’s pursuit of 400 more stores will only be achieved through single-store and smaller multi-unit acquisitions combined with new construction. However, he clarified that Casey’s is still open to a larger deal should the opportunity arise.
“We have the balance sheet and the integration experience to take on a larger deal that would help us exceed the goal if the opportunity were right, and financially, would act very similarly to the way Fikes [Wholesale] did in our last plan, which was really to serve as icing on the cake,” Bramlage said.
