Dive Brief:
- Casey’s General Stores plans to open 80 new convenience stores in fiscal 2026, which covers the end of April 2025 to the end of April next year, the convenience retailer announced in its full-year earnings report on Monday.
- This growth will come through a mix of acquisitions and new store construction, Casey’s said in its report, adding that it intends to spend about $600 million on “the purchase of property and equipment” in the fiscal year ahead.
- With 80 new stores, Casey’s is expecting to reach its goal of opening 500 locations by the end of fiscal 2026, a target which the company outlined about two summers ago.
Dive Insight:
Casey’s original three-year goal was to open 350 locations by the end of fiscal 2026, but the retailer spiked that to 500 after acquiring CEFCO Convenience Stores’ 198 locations last year. The deal was the largest acquisition in Casey’s history and triggered what became a “record year for store development,” President and CEO Darren Rebelez said during a media press conference on Tuesday.
Despite that major purchase, Casey’s isn’t banking on another blockbuster deal in reaching its latest pursuit. Instead, it’s sticking with its usual course of business — a 50-50 split between new builds and acquisitions of retailers that operate between one and three stores, Rebelez said during Casey’s earnings presentation on Tuesday.
“The larger deals are more opportunistic, and those come along when they come along, and then we evaluate those and see if we want to participate in that process or not,” he said.
The 80-store target is already underway, notably in Texas, where Casey’s recently confirmed that it’s building seven new stores. Documents from the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation note that each location is expected to be built by the end of the calendar year 2025.
“We can lean heavier on the organic side, because we have a pretty developed land bank that gives us that optionality either way,” Rebelez said during the earnings call in reference to new builds.
Casey’s is also coming off a profitable stretch in which its food business led the charge.
For the quarter, total inside sales grew 12.4%, driven by strong performances in bakery and hot and cold food as well as non-alcholholic beverages, according to Casey’s earnings report. Total prepared food and dispensed beverage sales rose by nearly 10% to $392 million in the quarter, while grocery and general merchandise sales increased by over 13% to more than $1 billion, Chief Financial Officer Steve Bramlage said during the earnings call.
