By the time Chevron and Jacksons Food Stores unveiled ExtraMile Convenience Stores in 2017, the combined entity already had hundreds of c-stores thanks to Chevron’s directly owned and operated locations on the West Coast.
Four years later, ExtraMile made a significant leap when it opened a convenience store in Vernon, Alabama. This site — ExtraMile’s 1,000th location — marked the company’s first c-store in the southeastern U.S.
Since then, ExtraMile has embarked on a journey to bring its convenience stores into several new markets across the Southeast, including Louisiana, Mississippi and Georgia. Its eyes are on Florida next. Within the next five years, the company also plans to grow its current store count from about 1,100 locations to over 2,000, President Brian Sardelich said in an interview.
ExtraMile is expected to open the bulk of these locations within the next three years, Sardelich noted.
“Those other states are really new markets for us and we're growing at a pretty rapid pace,” he said.
Growth plans in the works
Even after three years, ExtraMile’s expansion in the Southeast is still in its early stages.
Sardelich said that the company opened its seventh store in Georgia recently, as well as its fourth c-store in Mississippi. In May, ExtraMile debuted its first location in Louisiana. Sardelich also shared that ExtraMile is aiming to open its first location in Florida in coming next year.
“There’s really a ramp up of what our strategy is for growth,” Sardelich said. “It’ll happen over a five-year timeline. We’ll be in all markets that Chevron and Texaco currently operate in.”
But ExtraMile has loftier plans for these regions. Most notably, the company aims to have between 50 and 75 convenience stores combined across Georgia and Alabama by this time next year, Sardelich said. That means opening roughly four to eight stores per month in each of these states.
All locations will be built with or converted to ExtraMile’s new brand identity, which the company rolled out last month.
Sardelich said the company will use a combination of both organic growth and acquisitions to fuel store growth.
He noted that ExtraMile has “a lot of new builds in the pipeline,” and that about half of its new sites recently have been new-to-industry stores. However, he doesn’t expect ExtraMile’s new builds to continue at that rate.
ExtraMile has boosted its store count in the past by converting some of Jacksons’ locations to its own banner. Sardelich did not discuss whether or not that’s a possibility this time around.
“As you get into [a] market, you kind of see what's the opportunity,” he said. “For now, it's been really exciting to see brand new locations open up.”
While ExtraMile continues to grow, Sardelich emphasized the importance of ensuring every move the company makes is in the best interest of its franchisees, who are at the core of its operation. Since its inception, ExtraMile has been made up entirely of franchised locations.
“We’ve got to make sure we deliver the brand to somebody, but then we can also support them operationally — there's a delicate balance there to making sure you do it right,” Sardelich said. “Because one thing we don't want to do is go into a market, and overpromise and underdeliver.”
