Dive Brief:
- Southeastern convenience retailer Parker’s Kitchen plans to open between 20 and 25 c-stores annually over the next five years, Tom Rutledge, the company’s senior director of construction, said during a panel discussion on Wednesday at the NACS Show in Chicago.
- The expansion will focus on Parker’s core markets of Georgia and South Carolina, notably in Augusta, Savannah, Charleston, Myrtle Beach and Columbia, Rutledge said. He added that these plans also include Florida, a state that Parker’s has been preparing to enter for the past few years.
- If these new growth plans come to fruition, Parker’s could reach as many as 229 convenience stores — far beyond its current 104 locations — by the end of the decade, further cementing itself as a significant competitive threat in the Southeast.
Dive Insight:
Savannah-based Parker’s has been squarely focused on new store growth ever since revealing plans to double its store count two years ago. At the time, Parker’s had 76 stores in its network, and said it hoped to open 75 more by 2027.
The retailer appears to be expanding those ambitions with its latest strategy. If its plans are fully realized, Parker’s would not only become a major force in the Southeast, but one of the 50 largest c-store chains in the U.S. by store count.
“We want to continue on a growth path,” Rutledge said during the panel discussion. “I think everybody here wants to know that your growth is going to take you to the next level.”
Georgia and South Carolina have been Parker’s core markets for decades, but Florida is a new challenge filled with competitors. The retailer’s first location in the state has been in development in Jacksonville for the past two years, and the Jacksonville Daily Record reported last month that Parker’s is looking to open up to 10 sites in the northeast part of state.
The revamped growth plans come during a transitional period for Parker’s, which introduced a new top executive for the first time in company history earlier this year. Parker’s named Brandon Hofmann, who had been president since 2021, its new CEO, replacing founder and then-CEO Greg Parker, who shifted into a chairman role. Late last month, Parker’s promoted CFO John Rudolfs co-CEO alongside Hofmann “to leverage the strengths” of its leadership, the company said at the time.
