In a press release submitted to NACS, Family Express c-store chain reports that it is building its first modular convenience store in Ligonier, Indiana. This is the first in a line of new prefabricated building types that the Indiana retailer is constructing. The masonry buildings are approximately 7,200 square feet and include a full kitchen and car wash.

With components manufactured off-site and then assembled on-site, the store can go up in a matter of days. Family Express is in the process of executing $100 million in development with new-to-industry stores and said the modular construction method will help it meet its development schedule. Several new stores have already been prefabricated and are planned for construction in Indiana in the spring.

Modular construction is not a brand-new technique, but it was not widely accepted by the c-store industry, until this development. This technology offers the benefits of expediting the assembly and reducing the construction cost per square foot. We see it commonplace in the hospitality industry, and it is a welcome update to the c-store construction process.

With reduced cost of construction, the owners of the future income-generating enterprise may want to pay more attention – and maybe a few dollars – to the crucial task of site selection.

It is well known that a mistake in site selection, even as small as choosing the “wrong” side of the road, could mean the difference between commercial success or failure to recap the substantial, often multi-million, investment.

Site selection used to be an art form, but here and now it is a well-developed science, practiced by expert professionals in the field of historical vehicular traffic data collection & analysis and demographics analytics. Major retail chains have their in-house analytic departments (or groups), while smaller players cannot afford this costly endeavor.

Ticon, a renown expert in traffic data analytics and location intelligence, offers solutions for both ends of the industry spectrum.

If you have an in-house team, you are welcome to subscribe to Ticon’s latest product, TrafficZoom™ – a platform that lets you see AADT counts and other traffic parameters for every road in the country with AADT over 500.