In August 2023, Murphy USA piloted a new convenience store design for its 2,800-square-foot locations. At the time, the company said the retrofits of these stores — which are larger than its traditional 1,400-square-foot sites — would focus on improving traffic flow, create better queue areas and optimize food and beverage sales.
Murphy began reworking nine locations. By November of that year, the pilot had gone so well that the retailer announced plans to bring this new design to up to 50 of its 2,800-square-foot stores in 2024.
But Murphy isn’t just remodeling existing locations to fit this design. It’s also building new-to-industry sites under this format, as it did in Socorro, Texas, about 16 miles Southeast of downtown El Paso. Prior to this store being built, the land was nothing but an empty lot, Raul Tapia, Murphy USA’s district training manager in El Paso, said in an interview.
As of mid December, the Socorro store was one of 33 Murphy USA sites in Texas — the company’s largest market, with over 360 locations — that’s using the new design, Alejandra Barron, vice president and head of marketing for Murphy USA, said in a statement to C-Store Dive.
The Socorro store was supposed to open in August of last year, but due to electrical issues, didn’t debut until mid November, Tapia said. But now that the store is up and running, customers can’t seem to get enough of it, he said, adding that stores under this new design offer more SKUs across all categories than standard locations.
C-Store Dive visited this location on a Friday afternoon in late December. To say it was crowded would be an understatement.
“We've had so many customers come in here and tell us, ‘We have been waiting for you guys for a long time,’” Tapia said.
New food and beverage layout
A notable difference between Murphy USA’s new format and its standard design is how the updated layout emphasizes food and beverage offerings.
Stores under this design feature the grab-and-go cooler and dispensed beverage fountains on the far wall opposite the front entrance. Traditional Murphy locations have these closer to the center of the store.
The center of the newer locations now feature what Murphy calls the “Fixin’ Bar” — an island counter top with a microwave that lets guests customize and gather their food and drink items. Tapia said this change “makes a big difference” for the customer experience.
“It just has a rhythm to it,” Tapia said. “People could just set up their stuff, maybe look for some pastries… it makes sense for the customers.”
Murphy also removed the roller grills.
“It just didn’t do as well as we thought it would do… I think a lot of it was kind of dead space,” Tapia said.
The arrangement of products in the beverage cooler has also been flipped. Water and cold coffee are historically at the front of this section, but the newer locations now begin with energy drinks, soda and flavored water.
While Tapia said he isn’t exactly sure why this change was made, he said it might represent a strategy to get customers to walk all the way down the packaged beverage area.
“It does exactly that for us here, and I think that it just allows the customer to see more,” Tapia said.
Revamped checkout area
When walking towards the front of the store, Tapia pointed out the brand new nook that houses automotive, health and beauty products. Although Murphy has always sold these types of items, Tapia said traditional locations haven’t dedicated as much shelf space to them as the newer models do.
In her statement to C-Store Dive, Barron said that creating an “easy-to-shop” section for automotive items and a more private health and beauty area has been a way for Murphy to meet customers’ “emotional and functional” needs through the redesigns.
About five feet from this section are the register and front counter, which Tapia said is one of his favorite elements of the new store design. He emphasized that the way the Socorro store is laid out, employees can see everything and everyone inside the store at all times from this position.
“I [manage] three of the older 2,800 [store models], and I could not stand here and see the coolers like this,” he said.
Barron emphasized that this complete viewpoint from the register aims to improve Murphy’s employee experience “by improving [the] sight line behind the counter and reducing the need to answer questions about where products are located.”
Another new element of the design is a purpose-built line queue area leading to the register, which Barron said aims to clarify and expedite the checkout process.
Tapia, who oversees over a dozen Murphy USA c-stores in the El Paso area, said that having the Socorro store open is exciting for the company, especially in Texas. Despite major competition being nearby — the Socorro location is a mile away from both a Circle K and a QuikTrip — he said customers are choosing the Murphy location.
“In El Paso, you have convenience stores in almost every corner,” he said. “And so for them to really identify us as their preferred one — it's really nice for us to see that from the customers.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of stores Murphy USA has in Texas under its new design.
