Quiktrip - Type 3

[Gaspar]

Tulsa will become the Bentonville of tomorrow. 

Then everyone will blame them for putting the "Mom & Pops" convenience stores, bakeries, hot dog stands, and coffee shops out of business.

[nathanm]

Then everyone will blame them for putting the "Mom & Pops" convenience stores, bakeries, hot dog stands, and coffee shops out of business.

The big difference being that QuikTrip is not an unpleasant place to purchase things and actually pays its employees well.

[TheTed]

Read Cadieux's book, From Lucky to Smart.

Great company there, something for Tulsa to be proud of.

I think they are trying markets on the west coast now. Wouldn't surprise me if someday they were the standard convenience store of the Western Hemisphere.

I agree that QuikTrip is great. I'm a frequent customer and I always go out of my way to stop there.

But there's no way QT is better than Sheetz. QT is a gas station that offers food, while Sheetz is more like a restaurant in a gas station. You go to the counter and order subs, burgers, fries, salads, etc, all made to order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SSdh-yTHzQ

Side note, I've already complained to QT, but just in case any QT bigwigs read this: Is midnight on a weekend night really the best time to clean your ice cream machines? Really? You don't think you're missing out on sales by cleaning them at midnight on a weekend rather than at 4am or something, after the bars are closed and most people are home? I'm one for three in getting ice cream at the new QT because they insist on cleaning the machines at midnight.

[dmoor82]

I love how what began as a gentlemans agreement between Chester and whomever the f--- runs convenience stores in OKC was originally done out of respect, yet for the last couple of decades has made Tulsa 1000x as awesome as the poo-hole down the pike. 

^^ LOL! Nice One!

[bmuscotty]

Coming soon on another corner near you???


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39273933/

[patric]

Wal-Mart is looking to open stores that are similar to the formats in Mexico, Central America, and Latin America.

Super-Wal-Mercado?
Coke in little glass bottles with real sugar?

[Hoss]

Hate to bump an old topic, but it appears that the test passed: new Gen3 QT going in at 11th and Sheridan.  They appear to be about halfway complete (on the NW corner where that old bar used to be).

[Conan71]

I seldom think of QT as urban renewal, but that's a major accomplishment for that intersection.

[perspicuity85]

Coming soon on another corner near you???


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39273933/

Next time anyone is in Fayetteville, check out the Wal-Mart on Campus, which is on the street-level of a parking garage between a handfull of other retail stores.  http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=210496 Wal-Mart is investing millions, if not billions into the urban storefront prototype.  Even the posterchild of big box is embracing the need for an urban storefront.  Wal-Mart's whole idea is based on the notion that urban consumers lack access to traditional grocery stores, and are limited to convenience stores for many grocery needs.  

Let's assume that Wal-Mart's market research is accurate.  Given the resources WM has access to, I think that's a fair assumption.  Couldn't QuikTrip borrow this idea and make a conscious effort to make an urban footprint in the 10 or so markets it serves?  Maybe they are already doing this.  Wal-Mart's whole strategy really rests on the perception that urban consumers are these poor little souls doing all their grocery shopping at grungy urban convenience stores with bars on the windows and obscenities on the bathroom stalls.  But QuikTrip really debunks the grungy convenience store myth by the nature of QT's quality control and employee loyalty.  I think QT could really give WM a run for its money in the urban environment.  I don't think even WM's surperior economy of scale will be more critical in the urban environment than location, location, location.  So if I'm a QuikTrip executive, I'm thinking it's time to buy some real estate (which is cheap right now anyway).

[Hoss]

Next time anyone is in Fayetteville, check out the Wal-Mart on Campus, which is on the street-level of a parking garage between a handfull of other retail stores.  http://nwahomepage.com/fulltext-news?nxd_id=210496 Wal-Mart is investing millions, if not billions into the urban storefront prototype.  Even the posterchild of big box is embracing the need for an urban storefront.  Wal-Mart's whole idea is based on the notion that urban consumers lack access to traditional grocery stores, and are limited to convenience stores for many grocery needs.  

Let's assume that Wal-Mart's market research is accurate.  Given the resources WM has access to, I think that's a fair assumption.  Couldn't QuikTrip borrow this idea and make a conscious effort to make an urban footprint in the 10 or so markets it serves?  Maybe they are already doing this.  Wal-Mart's whole strategy really rests on the perception that urban consumers are these poor little souls doing all their grocery shopping at grungy urban convenience stores with bars on the windows and obscenities on the bathroom stalls.  But QuikTrip really debunks the grungy convenience store myth by the nature of QT's quality control and employee loyalty.  I think QT could really give WM a run for its money in the urban environment.  I don't think even WM's surperior economy of scale will be more critical in the urban environment than location, location, location.  So if I'm a QuikTrip executive, I'm thinking it's time to buy some real estate (which is cheap right now anyway).

You forget one component..you mention 'employee loyalty', but QTs success is driven by and large by their CUSTOMER loyalty.  If Walmart's model succeeds in that aspect... and they'll need to overcome the stereotype their employees currently have of trailer-trash near minimum wage workers...then QT will have a challenger in the C-store market.

But WalMart currently suffers from 'consumer apathy'.  They go to their stores, but they don't particularly praise the effort of the company or their employees.  With QT, it's just the opposite.

Keep in mind I'm speaking of their retail/neighborhood market stores.  I haven't seen this WM on Campus store you speak of yet.

I have a friend of mine who constantly bemoans the fact he moved from the Tulsa metro to Portland OR..don't get me wrong, he likes Portland, but he says the one thing that keeps making him want to move back is QT.

But QT does need to think about what they'll do once Tulsa grows up and starts having people who live downtown.  Most won't want to make the trek to 15th and Denver when they live at 2nd & Detroit.  They'll need something closer.

[Conan71]

But QT does need to think about what they'll do once Tulsa grows up and starts having people who live downtown.  Most won't want to make the trek to 15th and Denver when they live at 2nd & Detroit.  They'll need something closer.

Or once they realize they need to move into more walkable markets to keep sales from going flat and be able to carry more items.

Maybe it's just wishful thinking on our part that they are going to eventually become what Safeway was in the 1950's with that walkable neighborhood market feel.  Only problem is, they seem to be dialed into everything Safeway wasn't in the '50's: gasoline, pre-mixed fountain drinks over ice, and a mecca for prepared foods.

[JCnOwasso]

15 years ago, I believe it was said to me by one of the QT Top 3, while running through the initial stages of the Hotzi program, that you wouldn't be seeing a "rotisserie" at any point in a QT.  However, that seems to have been shot to hell, for the most part.  So I am pretty sure anything is possible.  Chet took over and has his own direction with the company, which isn't really a bad thing.

 

[patric]

Hate to bump an old topic, but it appears that the test passed: new Gen3 QT going in at 11th and Sheridan.  They appear to be about halfway complete (on the NW corner where that old bar used to be).

If they do as good a job on the shielded outdoor lighting as they did on 21st at both Memorial and Harvard, that would be a good trend to continue.

[EricGarcia]

New Gen III store coming to Aspen (145th E. Ave.) and Albany (61st Street) in Broken Arrow and will replace the smaller store at Aspen and the Broken Arrow Expressway.  This will be nice on that corner. 

[Hoss]

New Gen III store coming to Aspen (145th E. Ave.) and Albany (61st Street) in Broken Arrow and will replace the smaller store at Aspen and the Broken Arrow Expressway.  This will be nice on that corner. 

Guess that's a resounding 'yes' to the question of will the Type3 be successful.  As if there were really any doubt?