Dive Brief:
- Royal Farms plans to open its first location in South Carolina on May 18, the East Coast convenience retailer announced on Wednesday.
- The Myrtle Beach convenience store will offer Royal Farms’ made-to-order foodservice program, which includes its flagship fried chicken, as well as 12 fuel dispensers in the forecourt. Like most Royal Farms stores, this location will be open 24/7.
- South Carolina will mark Royal Farms’ eighth state of operation as the Baltimore-based retailer continues to expand across the eastern U.S.
Dive Insight:
South Carolina is the first state Royal Farms has added to its network since the retailer debuted in North Carolina in May 2023. Unlike its South Carolina store, which the company has revealed weeks before opening, that location was announced several months in advance along with plans to expand in the state.
Royal Farms will compete with several other convenience retailers in Myrtle Beach, notably Circle K, which has 26 stores in the resort town. The company will host a soft opening on May 13 and 14 to celebrate its first location in The Palmetto State.
"We are honored to officially join the Myrtle Beach community as a reliable, 24/7 neighbor,” Joe Kieper, district leader at Royal Farms, said in the announcement. “Beyond our World-Famous Chicken, we are bringing real value to South Carolina through our ROFO Rewards program and a commitment to fresh, affordable meals for every resident.”
Founded in 1959, Royal Farms has about 300 convenience stores across Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. The retailer was supposed to open its western-most convenience store in 2023 in Michigan, but that never came to fruition. In a statement to C-Store Dive, Jeff Kemp Jr., director of building and planning with the city of Rumulus, said that Royal Farms backed out of its Michigan plans, and that the station it intended to open ended up becoming the first Sheetz in the state.
