Construction to start within weeks at new Kwik Shop at 13th and Woodlawn

March 18, 20135:00 a.m.

WICHITA — It was January 2012 when Have You Heard? first reported that a Kwik Shop is going to open next to the Dillons at 13th and Woodlawn.

In June, Kwik Shop confirmed that it would happen, but then construction got held up.

Now, it really is about to start.

“We’ve worked out all the details of the project,” says Clay Brasher, Kwik Shop’s director of real estate.

“We just needed to work through lease documents,” he says. “We’ve gotten beyond all that now.”

Within the next few weeks, Brasher says the company “will get some things in motion there.”

Once construction starts, he says, “We’re probably realistically looking at around four months or so from start to finish.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under East side, Gas, Real estate | Comments Off

Kwik Shop at 13th and Woodlawn in flux

Feb. 11, 20131:49 p.m.

WICHITA — There’s still a good chance a Kwik Shop is coming to 13th and Woodlawn, but it’s not for certain.

“It remains to be seen,” says Clay Brasher, Kwik Shop’s director of real estate.

“There’s some things that we’re working through,” he says of working with the center on the southwest corner. “It’s just kind of been an ongoing discussion.”

The chain hopes to build a 4,000-square-foot store with eight fuel pumps, which equates to 16 fueling stations.

If it happens, there won’t be a pharmacy but there will be some grocery items.

Brasher says a decision will come sooner rather than later.

“We still believe that we’ll get (it) done at some point.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , Filed under Gas, New business, Real estate, Retail | Comments Off

Kwik Shop still coming to 13th and Woodlawn

Oct. 23, 20125:00 a.m.

UPDATED — An alert reader who saw a construction sign go up and then come down wonders if the Kwik Shop is still going to happen at 13th and Woodlawn near the Dillons.

It is, according to Clay Brasher, director of real estate.

“It’s probably a couple of months away from actually starting construction,” he says.

The store will be about 4,000 square feet. There will be eight fuel pumps, which equates to 16 fueling stations.

Brasher says there won’t be a pharmacy but there will be some grocery items.

“It’ll have a pretty good selection of Dillons food at Dillons prices.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Gas, Grocery, New business, Real estate, Retail | Comments Off

Kwik Shop to open at Stonebridge

Sept. 27, 201211:16 a.m.

UPDATED — A new Kwik Shop is coming to the Stonebridge development at the southeast corner of 37th Street North and Maize Road.

“Our customers have spoken, basically,” says Clay Brasher, Kwik Shop’s director of real estate. “That’s the main reason.”

Kwik Shop, which is operated by Kroger, has more than 125 stores in Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska. There are 19 Kwik Shops in Wichita. Kroger-owned Dillons has a number of fuel centers at its stores as well.

“We can use the larger presence,” Brasher says.

Menards anchors the 37-acre Stonebridge development, and Sonic also opened there a few weeks ago. Kwik Shop is the third business to be announced there.

“We feel like it’s going to help us spur even more activity,” says Randy Furstenberg, CFO of Vantage Point Properties, the Stonebridge developer.

“Them going there gives us some momentum that will help us.”

Brasher says he’s not sure how big the Kwik Shop will be yet.

“We’re actually still developing our plans on the size and everything it will include inside the store.”

There won’t be a pharmacy as some Kwik Shops now have, but there will be grocery items.

“It’ll have a large offering of food products in it,” Brasher says.

Construction on the store will start this year and should be completed by spring.

“So it’ll be a pretty quick deal for them,” Furstenberg says.

Vantage Point’s Marty Moody handled the deal with Grant Tidemann of J.P. Weigand & Sons, Brad Saville of Landmark Commercial Real Estate and Christian Ablah of Classic Real Estate.

 

 

 

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , Filed under New business, Real estate, Retail, Stonebridge, West side | Comments Off

Kwik Shop confirms it’s opening a store at 13th and Woodlawn

June 14, 20125:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Kwik Shop president Jeff Parker now confirms what Have You Heard? reported in January.

The chain is opening a new store next to Dillons, its sister company, at 13th and Woodlawn.

“We do intend to open a store there,” Parker says.

It will be Kwik Shop’s 19th store in the greater Wichita area.

The 4,000-square-foot store should open before the end of the year.

Parker says there will be eight fuel dispensers, traditional fountain drinks and some grocery items, such as produce and meat “like we do in most of our other stores.”

“We felt like it was a good fit for . . . the area.”

Kwik Shop also recently opened a new 13,000-square-foot store in Goddard where another one had been torn down.

“It’s got a wide, expansive grocery,” Parker says.

The company isn’t putting a store next to the Dillons at 21st and Amidon as customers had hoped, but Parker says he’s always on the lookout for new locations.

“We continually look for any opportunities . . . that seem to fit.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under East side, Gas, New business, Real estate, Retail | Comments Off

Healy Biodiesel to expand, allowing production to triple

April 26, 20125:00 a.m.

WICHITA — Healy Biodiesel, a 5-year-old Sedgwick company, is a few weeks away from moving into new space that will allow it to triple its production.

“We make biodiesel from oils – used cooking oil primarily,” president Ben Healy says. “We are producing probably … about a quarter-million gallons a year currently.”

The biodiesel can be used in cars and trucks.

With a new plant in a Sedgwick industrial park at 250 Industrial Drive, Healy says he expects to be able to produce a million gallons of biodiesel a year.

So what’s that mean for the company?

“A lot more headaches,” he says, perhaps only half joking.

“We’re going to need to add employees,” Healy says.

He’ll also need to add more used cooking oil clients, “which is the backbone of our business.”

Healy particularly will look to Wichita restaurants for help with that.

Read More »

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , , Filed under Sedgwick | Comments Off

Kwik Shop to open next to Dillons at 13th and Woodlawn

Jan. 11, 201210:54 a.m.

WICHITA — A new Kwik Shop is going to open next to the Dillons at 13th and Woodlawn.

No one with Kwik Shop, a sister company to Dillons, returned calls for comment. But the owner of Mariam’s Quick Mart, who was forced out because of Kwik Shop’s purchase of the land, confirms it.

“It’s no big deal,” Mo Siddique says of having to leave. “It was just too much work for me.”

He also has a Mariam’s at Central and Webb.

“I’m actually glad,” Siddique says of having less work.

His store closed in December.

Siddique says Kwik Shop was supposed to start demolition this month, but that’s been put off for at least a month or so while environmental studies are done.

 

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Closings, East side, Grocery | Comments Off

Two area Kwik Shops to be home to pharmacy pilot project

Oct. 27, 20092:39 p.m.

kwikWICHITA — Dillons and Kwik Shop are moving ahead with a pilot program to test Dillons pharmacies in two area Kwik Shop stores.

Have You Heard? reported this was a possibility in July.

Dillons spokeswoman Sheila Lowrie says construction will start late next month on Kwik Shops at 53rd and Maize and 37th and Ridge. The new pharmacies, which will include drive-throughs, will open in early spring.

Customers will be able to fill prescriptions and speak to pharmacists on site.

Kroger owns Dillons and Kwik Shop, and the pilot is designed to strengthen the partnership between the two and offer customers one-stop shopping for their fuel, pharmacy and grocery needs.

The two Kwik Shops also will be pilot projects for expanded ready-made meals, such as fried and rotisserie chicken and home-style side dishes.

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , , Filed under Gas, Healthcare, Pharmacies, Retail | Comments

Kwik Shop considers adding pharmacies

July 20, 20095:24 p.m.

kwikWICHITA — Kwik Shop, the convenience store chain owned by Kroger, is contemplating adding pharmacies to its stores.

“I think that sounds interesting,” says president Jeff Parker.

That doesn’t mean, though, that it’s going to happen.

“We have looked at a lot of things like that,” Parker says.

He’s also checked into a Kroger convenience store chain in Florida that has one location with a pharmacy.

But at this point, he’s still in the consideration stage. Parker doesn’t have a timetable that he wants to make a decision by.

“We don’t have any kind of definitive schedule or anything like that.”

By Carrie Rengers | Tags: , , Filed under Gas, Medical | Comments