Growth Drives Casey's Plans to Open Third Distribution Center

ANKENY, Iowa — With another year of growth on its agenda, Casey's General Stores Inc. is tightening up plans to add a third distribution center.

For fiscal year 2020, the convenience store retailer has targeted building 60 new convenience stores and acquiring approximately 25 additional stores, according to Casey's President and CEO Darren Rebelez.

Moving toward that goal, Casey's opened 15 new stores and acquired four stores during the first quarter of its 2020 fiscal year. The chain also has 11 additional stores under agreement to purchase, according to Rebelez. 

"You should expect a relative even distribution of new store openings this fiscal year," he said during the company's first-quarter fiscal 2020 earnings call, held Sept. 10. "Currently, we have 107 sites in our pipeline, including 35 under construction — which positions us well for future growth."

As Casey's continues to grow its store network, the company remains focused on looking for ways to increase efficiency. This is driving the retailer to prepare for a new distribution center in the southwest portion of its territory.

"We are in the final stages of evaluating a location and design for our third distribution center. As a result, we anticipate breaking ground on the new facility this fall," Rebelez said. "This will alleviate the pressure off our current distribution centers, enabling our entire network to become more efficient. It will also allow us the ability to efficiently expand into new markets."

Plans for a third distribution center come just three years after Casey's cut the ribbon on its second distribution center in spring 2016. The 250,000-square-foot facility in Terre Haute, Ind., helped alleviate the retailer's Ankeny distribution center and allowed Casey's to explore expansion opportunities further east.

As of April 30, Casey's operated 2,146 stores across 16 states. The company is No. 8 on the 2019 Convenience Store News Top 100 ranking.