Americans like it big. We don’t want to be crowded. Give us plenty of space and we’re happy.

It looks like the convenience store operators finally understood this feature of the American national psyche. The new travel centers are being opened across the country, not just the regular players like Love’s or Buc-ee’s but by the companies like Wawa, and RaceTrac, and even 7-eleven.

This increasing competition even caused some concern among the traditional truck stop operators. “If you’re a sophisticated operator, you’re looking at the competition around you, and that may or may not be a business that sells commercial fuel today,” said Darren Schulte, NATSO’s VP of membership.

Schulte said it is important that operators expand their horizons about who they see as competitors.

Regional c-stores have strong local followings and they’re building more truck stops. “These competitors are good at converting four-wheel traffic and box trucks, and they’re aggressive competitors on the backcourt,” he said, adding that many familiar c-stores are building bigger facilities along the interstate and many of them are excellent at food programs and speed.

Take, for example, a new travel center that Wawa is opening in Hope Mills, North Carolina. Located on Chickenfoot Road, which is adjacent to I-95 near Fayetteville, the store is expected to open by mid-2025. It will offer a high-speed diesel fuel court to meet the needs of professional tractor trailer drivers. Six lanes will serve diesel drivers and 20 fuel spots will be available for standard vehicles.

Notably, there’s already a Sheetz travel center operating across the street. But this must be just a coincidence...

Travel centers are not just XL-sized c-stores, though. Not only do they offer more amenities to the visitors, but they also require much larger real estate build-up. This is something RE developers and asset management companies should look into as a growing opportunity.

To keep track of all the upcoming opportunities and to obtain vital data for making mega-dollar business decisions, the players have to support a costly staff of data analysts. Not everyone can afford the best talent, and a mistake can be catastrophic.

Fortunately, there’s Ticon. By having all the necessary information produced from impeccably accurate traffic data for retail by highly capable traffic engineers, Ticon is able to offer you the key to retail site selection, and store performance management.

‍Contact us today to strengthen your competitive position, optimize the store operations and achieve maximum profitability.