Dive Brief:
- Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores plans to add 20 to 25 new stores, refresh 35 to 40 existing locations and completely rebuild four others in 2024, according to a Friday press release.
- The travel stop chain also plans to expand access to many of its amenities, including adding many more truck washes and RV hookups. Inside the store, it said it will grow its private label line and augment its fresh food offering.
- As Love’s celebrates its 60th anniversary, it’s also focusing on professional drivers, with plans to expand its truck maintenance and repair network.
Dive Insight:
With major players like 7-Eleven and Circle K making plans to expand their brands, Love's is looking to keep pace while also taking pains to court professional drivers.
On the food front, the convenience retailer plans to add new Love’s-branded chip flavors, meat sticks, honey buns, powdered donuts and cookies to its stores. The company’s Fresh Kitchen concept, which offers a range of healthier and diet-specific options, will also get new additions, including a new omelet bowl and updates to snack trays and mac and cheese.
Additionally, Love’s intends to add 20 restaurants across its footprint. Love’s currently offers a number of franchised restaurants at its travel stops, including Sonic, McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway and Hardee’s.
When the first Love’s opened six decades ago, it “almost immediately started selling household items to make stopping in more convenient for customers,” said Shane Wharton, president of Love’s. “Today… we continue with his innovative spirit by adding new products and improving the experience.”
In the forecourt, Love’s is looking to add seven new truck washes this year, doubling the number of those facilities. It also plans to add RV hookups to 44 more sites, ending the year with 1,500 total hookups across 98 locations, and hopes to use National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure funds to add EV chargers to 29 Love’s locations.
For professional drivers, Love’s will offer more bundled services through Love’s Financial and continue to offer driver’s license protection service TVC Pro-Driver, which Love’s purchased in 2023. It’s also expanding its truck maintenance and repair network. The company plans to construct 10 new Speedco locations on Love’s sites, adding 50 new bays and 60 emergency roadside vehicles in total. All new Love’s locations will also offer driver amenities and truck parking.
During an event earlier this week, Wharton noted that the company was keeping an eye out for potential opportunities along turnpikes, Freight Waves reported.
Love’s latest update comes about a month after the company named a new vice president of corporate development and growth initiatives and its first ever vice president of customer experience.
Oklahoma City-based Love’s has 640 locations in 42 states, along with more than 400 Speedco and Love’s Truck Care locations.
