Buc-ee’s, Wally’s and Wawa converge on Indy as convenience stores become cultural forces

Convenience stores are having a cultural moment. It’s more than a moment, actually—but they do like to emphasize speed. And after decades of being the butts of culinary jokes, they now like to emphasize fresh, ready-to-eat food—as well as plenty of gas pumps, product inventories that could rival a small Walmart and sophisticated branding strategies that market them as immersive experiences instead of roadside quickie-marts. We soon should have a chance to sample a few of the biggest names. Buc-ee’s, Wally’s and Wawa are converging on the Indianapolis area—as would befit the crossroads of America.

Wawa was the first to the Indy market with a store that opened in May, followed by several more local stores and plans for about a dozen in total. In terms of size, they’re definitely bigger than your typical 7-Eleven. IBJ recently broke the story that iconic Texas-based chain Buc-ee’s was close to sealing a deal for an Indy-area store potentially larger than a football field. And Illinois-based Wally’s, with a model strikingly similar in some ways to Buc-ee’s, recently provided an opening date for its 54,000-square-foot store under construction in Whitestown.

For this week’s episode of the IBJ Podcast, we’ve invited an expert in the industry to discuss the sea change in the C-store marketplace and delve into the specific calling cards of each of these three brands. Jeff Lenard of the National Association of Convenience Stores tells us what to expect, where they make their profit, how they’re building devoted fan bases and why they see opportunity in central Indiana.