New Casey’s in SW Cedar Rapids to open Thursday

A new Casey's General Store in southwest Cedar Rapids will open Thursday, continuing the pace of expansion by the Ankeny convenience store chain.

Michael Richardson, vice president of marketing, said the 4,346-square-foot store at 4560 16th Ave. SW, near the northeast corner of Jacolyn Drive and 16th Avenue SW, will open at 5 a.m.

It will be the 16th Casey's in Cedar Rapids and Marion.

Richardson said the new store will employ about 20 people and sell the company's usual food lineup and beverages as well as gasoline and diesel fuel.

Casey's has added, remodeled or replaced a number of stores in the Cedar Rapids area in recent years.

The publicly owned company built and opened 85 new stores, acquired 26 stores, completed 30 replacements and remodeled 74 stores in its most recent fiscal year, which ended on April 30.

At the end of its first fiscal year quarter on July 31, Casey's had 2,085 stores, including 15 under construction.

The company had 14 acquisition stores under agreement to purchase and a land bank of 103 sites.

'The increased focus in store development over the last couple of years has allowed us to build a bank of land sites for future growth,” Terry Handley, Casey's president and chief executive officer, said in a news release.

'It will allow us to have a more controlled and uniform rollout of our new stores each quarter.

'We also continue to be encouraged by the number of conversations we are having with potential sellers.”