QuikTrip Corp.

Missouri will be home to the chain's doughnut-making plant.

Country Food Stores knows its customers have need for speed. That's why the San Angelo, Texas-based chain designed Total Car Care Center to be fast. The company's newest and biggest location offers busy, quick-moving motorists a three-bay lube center, a conveyor car wash, an 8,700-square-foot convenience store and gas station, and a Country Cookin' foodservice outlet.

The past year was good for the convenience store industry. Most operators saw higher in-store sales, and many companies continued to add stores and expand their product offerings. Of course, not everything was rosy: rising credit-card interchange fees drained profits out of many businesses, especially when added to the rapidly rising gas prices the nation experienced for the first half of the year.

Thirty-five stores in Wichita will be bigger and brighter with smaller checkout counters.

Thirty-five stores in Wichita will be bigger and brighter with smaller checkout counters.

Market at Jodeco holds grand opening over weekend.

Starting next month, the chain will install TransFund Totally Free ATMs in its Texas stores.

QT Kitchen, the chain's new foodservice offering, launches in 35 stores.