PHOTO GALLERY: Allsup's Network Grows With New Format Locations
FORT WORTH, Texas — Yesway debuted a larger store format with the openings of two new Allsup's-branded convenience stores.
The new stores recently welcomed customers in Mineral Wells, Texas, and Alamogordo, N.M. Each new location includes 5,630 square feet of merchandising space and 24 fueling positions. The Alamogordo forecourt features three high-speed diesel fueling lanes and the Mineral Wells forecourt features four high-speed diesel fueling lanes.
According to Yesway, the c-stores represent the first of two new prototypical store formats the company has developed: a large-format convenience store and a hybrid truck stop, which will both be open 24 hours per day.
Each of these new prototypes will feature a forecourt with 10 to 20 fueling positions, two to five diesel lanes for the truck stops, and 5,630 to 6,277 square feet, respectively, of interior merchandising space.
Inside, customers will find Allsup's world-famous burritos, a full assortment of Yesway and Allsup's private label snacks; a new trucker/automotive section; fresh Allsup's bread, milk and eggs; and a beer cave. Other amenities will include Western Union service, ATM availability and Coin Cloud digital currency machines offering 30-plus digital currencies.
"We are thrilled to be bringing these new, larger format stores to our loyal customers in Texas and New Mexico," said Tom Trkla, chairman and CEO of Yesway. "I am proud of how hard our amazing team has worked to bring these stores to market."
The c-stores also represent the most recent new-to-industry stores Yesway has undertaken within both the Yesway and Allsup's portfolios over the past year and a half. In addition to these new-to-industry stores, Yesway has undertaken several raze and rebuilds of its existing Allsup's stores. The most recently completed under this initiative include stores in Artesia, N.M., and Canyon, Texas.
Real Estate Program
In October, Yesway announced it had raised an additional $235 million of equity capital, $135 million of which was to be invested in targeted real estate capital projects. The capital is also earmarked for complementary acquisitions to further expand the Yesway/Allsup's brand presence, the company said this past fall.
Beverly, Mass.-based Brookwood Financial Partners LLC, the private equity firm that founded Yesway, was the sole private placement agent for the offering. In total, it has raised more than $642 million in equity capital for its Yesway affiliate in addition to arranging more than $237 million in sale-leaseback proceeds.
Concurrent with and in support of this initiative, Yesway has also made significant investments in its people, hiring hundreds of new employees and recognizing their excellent work through its Hospitality Heroes program.
"As part of our integration of Allsup's, we have identified over $135 million in real estate capital projects within the portfolio, including razing and rebuilding 27 existing Allsup's stores, performing targeted upgrades to over 100 additional Allsup's stores, converting several existing Yesway stores in Texas to the Allsup's brand, significantly upgrading many of our existing Yesway-branded stores and adding new-to-market stores in communities which we have determined could benefit from an Allsup's store," Trkla said in making the announcement this past fall. "In particular, these improvements will allow us to offer the complete Allsup's foodservice program to Yesway customers, including, of course, the world-famous Allsup's Burrito."
Over the past several years, Allsup's has completed more than 100 raze-and-rebuilds of existing c-stores, increasing its average store size from 2,400 square feet to over 4,800 square feet, allowing for an expanded selection of in-store merchandise and private label offerings.
In late 2019, Fort Worth-based Yesway closed on its acquisition of Allsup's Convenience Stores. The transaction, which was first announced in October 2019, was Yesway's largest in its history. With the addition of Clovis, N.M.-based Allsup's, Yesway's store count grew to more than 400 convenience stores and bolstered its presence in Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.
Established in 2015, its portfolio currently consists of 400-plus stores located in Texas, New Mexico, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Nebraska, including the Allsup's.