Murphy USA planning major upgrade in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Murphy USA station in southwest Cedar Rapids has been reduced to a pile of rubble in preparation for a major upgrade and expansion.

The El Dorado, Ark., company will replace a 150-square-foot kiosk at 3939 Edgewood Rd. SW with a 1,400-square-foot walk-in store that will offer fountain soft drinks and ready-to-eat hot food, according to John Moore, a Murphy USA spokesman.

'It will be a nice reinvestment back in that location,” Moore said. 'We have a few of our sites across the country where the market will support a convenience store.

'It will allow us to serve more customers with a wider selection of merchandise and a wider selection of fuels.”

New fuel pumps will offer several grades of gasoline as well as diesel fuel, he said.

A new canopy installed over the pumps and convenience store will replace a facility constructed in 2000.

While Moore declined to provide a capital investment figure for the project, Cedar Rapids building permits showed a value of $5.1 million for the convenience store and pumps and $340,000 for the fuel canopy.

Moore said the company typically employs six to eight people in a convenience store. Hours of operation likely will remain the same with an 11 p.m. closing.

'We are targeting a late-fall opening for the new Cedar Rapids store, depending on any weather-related delays,” Moore said.

Murphy USA is a relatively new player in the nation's convenience store industry.

The company entered the market in the late 1990s and most of its stores are located in close proximity to Walmart stores.

Murphy USA also operates a station at 5497 U.S. Highway 151 in Marion.