Dive Brief:
- Convenience store retailer Jiffy Trip has opened a site off Interstate 412 in Siloam Springs, Arkansas — its first location outside of Oklahoma and 27th c-store overall, according to an emailed press release.
- Jiffy Trip’s newest store includes a JT’s Comfort Kitchen restaurant — the chain’s proprietary QSR — as well as 20 new fuel pumps with six tiers of fuel. The new store will also bring about 40 jobs to Siloam Springs, according to the announcement.
- Jiffy Trip’s Arkansas expansion has been in the works for two years, and the retailer is currently building a second location in Siloam Springs, Alex Williams, chief operating officer for Jiffy Trip, told the Herald-Leader.
Dive Insight:
Inside the store, Jiffy Trip’s JT’s Comfort Kitchen focuses on comfort foods such as chicken fried steak, meatloaf, smoked bologna, pizza and more. Most JT’s restaurants are open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. — serving breakfast until 11 a.m. — and include indoor and outdoor seating as well as a drive-thru.
Jiffy Trip did not clarify whether its newest location has these options.
“There's no better time to open our first site in northwest Arkansas than now,” Williams said in the announcement. “With 26 locations throughout northwest Oklahoma, it only made perfect sense, geographically and timing-wise, to open our 27th location in Siloam Springs.”
Jiffy Trip’s move to Arkansas coincides with Couche-Tard’s expansion in the state. Just last week, the parent company of Circle K acquired the 45-location Big Red Stores c-store chain in a move that will “quadruple” Couche-Tard’s footprint in Arkansas, the company said.
Most Big Red locations are in Little Rock, Arkansas — over 200 miles Southwest of Siloam Springs. This makes it unlikely that Jiffy Trip’s latest location will compete with Couche-Tard’s newly acquired brand.
Enid, Oklahoma-based Jiffy Trip was founded in 1972 with a single store in Cherokee, Oklahoma. The company is a third-generation family-owned business.