Jiffy Trip Moves Into Arkansas
ENID, Okla. — Jiffy Trip opened its first northwest Arkansas store in Siloam Springs to customers on Feb. 23. It is the convenience store chain's first location outside of Oklahoma.
The store — located at 4295 East U.S. Highway 412 — adds 20 new fuel pumps, six tiers of fuel, including E-85, and approximately 40 jobs to the Siloam Springs area.
"There's no better time to open our first site in northwest Arkansas than now," said Alex Williams, chief operating officer of Jiffy Trip. "With 26 locations throughout northwest Oklahoma, it only made perfect sense, geographically and timing-wise, to open our 27th location in Siloam Springs.
"The anticipation of our first Siloam Springs location opening has had our store team energized and ready to serve customers quickly and get them back on the road. Jiffy Trip is food-centric first, with endless options for our customers. Our customers know what they want, and we want to provide that favorite snack or fountain beverage and top-tier fuel," Williams added.
The store features Jiffy Trip favorites and includes JT's Comfort Kitchen, the chain's in-store restaurant. The restaurant, launched in March 2022 under the name JT's Restaurant, offers homemade menu items common to the Midwest, such as meatloaf, chicken fried steak and smoked bologna. Dine-in options also include numerous sides and fruit cobblers, made daily.
Family-owned Jiffy Trip currently operates 27 locations across the Midwest with further expansion planned for Arkansas.
Jiffy Trip is just the last industry player to move into new markets. For example, Sheetz and Wawa Inc. are preparing to grow their footprints and this time they are heading further west. Altoona, Pa.-based Sheetz will expand into Michigan, with the first store location projected to open in 2025 starting in the Detroit market. The move into Michigan will mark the first time Sheetz has expanded into a new state in nearly two decades — when it opened its first convenience store in North Carolina in 2004.
Fellow Pennsylvania-based retailer, Wawa, is setting its sights on three new states as part of its expansion path: Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.