C-store developers tap into Nixa growth

Rapid Roberts Inc., Cody’s Convenience Stores and Casey’s General Stores all have entered the Nixa market this year for the same reasons: the city’s growing population and its proximity to other destinations.

Nixa’s population has nearly quadrupled since 1990 to more than 17,000 people, according to Nixa Chamber of Commerce Director Sharon Whitehill Gray. Many of those residents live in Nixa but commute to Springfield for work.

“This day and age, that’s what everybody’s all about – run in and run out, or drive through,” she said. “It’s only logical that we have an abundance of convenience stores.”

Springfield-based CRW Properties, the parent company of Cody’s Convenience Stores, will have three stores in Nixa by December. CRW acquired a Price Cutter convenience store on Massey Boulevard on Oct. 1 and will finish construction of a new Cody’s, in the Crimson Plaza on Highway 14, by early December.

Curtis Jared, CRW chief operating officer and executive vice president, says a growing number of Nixa residents commute to work in Springfield or travel through the city to get to Ozark or the lake.

“With the strong residential population that you have there, when you have locations that are close to home, people are going to rely on those stores for quick needs,” Jared said. “It’s a great place to stop before you go to work, come home from work or on the weekends.”

The newly constructed Cody’s will be about 4,300 square feet. Both the acquired store and the new store will have fresh food and 12 fueling stations.

Springfield-based Rapid Roberts also made its first move into Nixa on Sept. 18, when it acquired Nixa Convenience Center, 615 W. Mount Vernon.

Rapid Roberts owner Rob Wilson said the rise in residential building enticed him, and knew the city was a natural extension of his Springfield operations. The number of residential building permits grew from 202 in 1995 to 498 in 2005, according to statistics from the city of Nixa. Year-to-date for 2006, 236 residential building permits have been filed in Nixa.

“It kind of fills in the gaps for us,” Wilson said, adding that he plans to open a second Nixa store at an undisclosed location in the near future.

The new Nixa store, purchased for an undisclosed price from Terry and Michelle Stone, will remain open while renovations are made throughout the winter, Wilson said. Completion is set for spring.

The store will nearly double in size to about 3,000 square feet and will be renovated to match the Rapid Roberts design at the chain’s 22 other Ozarks locations.

The company’s traditional red-and-black color scheme will be incorporated, lighting will be enhanced and interior shelving will be customized.

The station has four gasoline pumps and one diesel pump, and it also offers kerosene.

Meanwhile, Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s General Stores opened its first Nixa store in April at 1894 N. Highway CC, and its second Nixa location, 1015 N. Main, in late September.

Casey’s Chief Financial Officer Bill Walljasper also cited Nixa’s growth as the main attraction in bringing Casey’s stores there.

“It’s certainly becoming a community that people locate, and maybe commute into Springfield to work,” he said.