Thorntons Opens Its Largest Store to Date

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The new Thorntons LLC location in Indiana marks two milestones. It is the convenience store retailer's largest store to date and the first it's opened since ownership changed hands earlier this year.

On July 26, Thorntons cut the ribbon on a new travel center in Memphis, Ind. At 9,160 square feet, the travel center is the largest location in the c-store retailer's portfolio.

This is the first store opening for Thorntons since it was acquired by a joint venture of Arclight Capital Partners and BP. The deal was announced late last year and closed in February, as Convenience Store News previously reported.

"Opening this fantastic new state of the art travel center in Memphis, Ind., is an exciting milestone for our guests and our company. It is just the beginning of the significant growth enabled by our new owners and further demonstrates our commitment to our guests and team members in all the locations where we operate," said Simon Richards, president and CEO.

Amenities at the Indiana travel center include:

• A Burger King restaurant;
• Forty-four truck parking spaces;
• Seven diesel bays;
• Twenty auto fueling positions;
• Five showers;
• CAT Scale for truck weighing; and
• Freshly made burritos and sandwiches daily.

"The future is bright for Thorntons and we are excited about what lies ahead," Richards added.

The retailer's growth plan includes additional store openings through the remainder of 2019 and into 2020. According to the c-store retailer's Facebook page, Thorntons will open a new travel center in Kingston Springs, Tenn., on Aug. 23.

Based in Louisville, Thorntons operates 192 stores in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and Florida. The company is No. 41 on the 2019 Convenience Store News Top 100.