QuikTrip Shutters Nonfuel C-store Over Safety Concerns
TULSA, Okla. — QuikTrip Corp.'s (QT) first nonfuel convenience store is going offline.
The QuikTrip store, located at the intersection of Peachtree and 6th streets in Atlanta, will officially close May 3. After evaluation of the location, it did not meet the company's expectations regarding the safety of customers and employees, according to the convenience store chain.
[Read more: Convenience Store Operators Grapple With Rising Crime]
"Eight years ago, we opened our first nongas store on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta as a pilot concept. On May 3, we're bringing that pilot concept to a close," Aisha Jefferson, corporate communications manager at QuikTrip, said.
"It's critically important to us that every location across our 1,000-plus store footprint nationwide delivers the in-store experience that QT customers have come to know, love and expect," she said, adding that the company regularly evaluates its stores to ensure they meet performance metrics and expectations around customer and employee safety. "After evaluating this store, we decided it was not consistently meeting our expectations."
With new locations in the greater Atlanta metro area, Jefferson said QuikTrip is in the process of identifying a new Atlanta location for a full-service QT that the company hopes to have online within the next two to three years.
The corporate communications manager added that QT is taking a different approach than many in the industry and retail sector when addressing public safety issues.
"We are trying to take a comprehensive approach to create meaningful change in the communities where we operate, including Atlanta. That is why we work with local community organizations that positively impact the root causes, often at the heart of public safety issues such as homelessness, addiction and youth services," Jefferson said, adding last year alone, QT made more than $7 million in philanthropic investments across the greater Atlanta area.
The chain said they decided to use the pilot concept as a "learning experience" to help the brand as it expands.
QT debuted the nonfuel location in Atlanta in 2016. The c-store sans gas was the first of its kind for QuikTrip since the late 1970s when the company tested a similar concept in its hometown of Tulsa, as Convenience Store News previously reported.
Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Tulsa, QuikTrip operates more than 1,000 stores across 17 states and employs more than 31,000 associates.