651 Water St, East Jordan MI 49727
“The mart is part of a BP gas station. The store is clean as are the pumps. The gas price is 10-15 cents higher than surrounding cities and more than 20 cents over Gaylord. It's the effect of being a rural small town. Employees are somewhere between bland, expressionless, vacant and just plain rude and discourteous. They do the job punching the buttons and collecting the payment, but that's where it ends. Understanding that, the store itself is massive. Several coffee options, frozen drinks, coolers full of many different brands and flavours. Shelves of most anything you could possibly need. But the biggest attraction: Chester's Chicken. Chester's is hot chicken prepared on site, offered in combination or ala carte'. When we lived downstate we ate Chester's for lunch 2-3 times a week. Imagine my surprise finding this one. The boneless tenders are shockingly tasty! 09/23”
2410 Rushton Rd, Central Lake MI 49622
“Another small town special right by the city dock on Intermediate Lake. For people doing the “Chain of Lakes” tour it is a great place to stop for pizza, cold beer, fishing supplies any hardware to keep the boat running, it one stop shopping for the locals and tourists. It nice to have their summer rush so they can stay open all year. They now make pizzas and related foods. Have to try that.”
1806 S Michigan 88 Hwy N, Central Lake MI 49622
“Clean gas station with good window washing station. The restroom is in the adjacent grocery store in the back of the store. The store has a large selection of camping supplies & local products.”
470 N Lake St, Boyne City MI 49712
“Have made this Marathon Gas Station my only location to purchase gas for any vehicle that I'm driving at the time. There are many other gas stations that provide probably the exact same gasoline out of their tanker truck but the difference is the level of service that this station provides. Never have I encountered a surly attendant. The staff are locals and call you by name and it is always a pleasure to do business here. One important thing that also brings me back and that is the delicious Pepperoni Rolls that they sell at around lunch time. Mmmm Good.”
1320 Boyne Ave, Boyne City MI 49712
“Clean building, friendly service and easy to find a parking place. I was craving cappuccino and they have it! Yummy! All the normal things in a food mart you would expect to find: chips, candy, soda, etc.”
The Iowa retailer, the third-largest convenience store operator in the country, built its new three-year plan around three priorities: store growth, food and beverage expansion, and kitchen technology upgrades. The company plans to add 120 stores during the current fiscal year. Its previous plan, launched in 2023, delivered more than 500 new stores and earned the company a spot in the S&P 500.
Read the postLove's Travel Stops is starting 2025 with ambitious growth plans, adding 20 new stores and updating 50 current locations across the country. The truck stop company will upgrade its stores through its Strategic Remodel Initiative, which started in 2022. This includes the modernization of its recently acquired turnpike location in Stroud, Oklahoma. By 2035, over half of Love's 655 stores will be either new or updated.
Read the postFood service giant Sodexo plans to open nearly 100 "Food Hive" locations on campuses nationwide by 2026. The company has already started the process, aiming to launch about 30 new college convenience stores during the current 2024-25 academic year.
Read the post7-Eleven is going big on food and "frictionless shopping." The convenience store giant plans to open 500 new "food-forward" locations across the U.S. from 2025 to 2027. The expansion builds on 7-Eleven's "Evolution" store concept, first launched in Dallas in 2019. These larger-format stores feature in-store restaurants, premium products like craft beer and cigars, and an emphasis on fresh, grab-and-go meals.
Read the postAmazon has quietly opened a new type of grocery store in downtown Chicago. Called Amazon Grocery, the 3,800-square-foot store is a testing ground for Amazon's latest experiment in brick-and-mortar retail. The first Amazon Grocery location shares a building with a Whole Foods Market, which Amazon purchased in 2017.
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