Casey's Expands Reach to 11th State

ANKENY, Iowa -- Casey's General Stores officially entered its 11th state this morning as the clock struck 5 a.m. The time marked the opening of its store in Bella Vista, Arkansas -- its first in the southern state.

In a nod to the age of social media, the company made the announcement on its Facebook page. And while many fans of the store liked the move, some don’t want the convenience store chain to stop there, requesting the company to make its way to Texas.

The new store in Bella Vista is just the beginning. As CSNews Online reported last June, Casey's had five properties under contract in Arkansas with plans to open the new locations by the end of fiscal 2011. In the company's fourth quarter fiscal 2010 conference call, Chief Financial Officer Bill Walljasper said Casey's planned to "penetrate" the state with new store construction as well as potential acquisitions.

At the time, Walljasper added that the company was doing "due diligence" in Tennessee and Michigan.

Casey's has been on a roll lately. Earlier this month the company celebrated grand openings and re-openings across five states in one weekend. The re-openings took place in Richland, Mo.; Mount Vernon, Iowa; Dixon, Mo.; Steelville, Mo.; Bloomington, Ill.; Clay City, Ill.; Polo, Mo.; Creston, Iowa; Hamburg, Iowa; Tama, Iowa; and Norfolk, Neb. The grand openings were in Marion, Ind., and Bellevue, Iowa.