NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ—A new QuickChek convenience store and fueling station located at How Lane and Jersey Avenue in North Brunswick represents the company’s 134th store in the Garden State.

The 5,496-square-foot store opened for business on February 21.

The fresh convenience market, as the new stores are sometimes called, will be open 24-hours a day and serve hot coffee, iced coffee, as well as fountain or dispensed “QuickFreeze” drinks for children to enjoy, all free, thru March 5, to help launch the store. 

Other amenities include two no-fee ATM’s, indoor seating for 13 people, outdoor seating for eight, eight gasoline pumps and 59 parking spaces at the North Brunswick facility.

QuickChek said it will donate a quarter for every sub, sandwich, or wrap it sells from February 21 thru March 20, 2017 to the North Brunswick Baseball & Softball Association.

Based in Whitehouse Station, QuickChek also operates 13 stores in New York’s Hudson Valley and another on Long Island that opened this past fall. More than 35% of all QuickCheks sell fuel. 

“We are thrilled to celebrate 50 years of meeting the needs of our customers,” said QuickChek CEO Dean Durling, in a news release announcing the company’s 50th anniversary next month.

The first QuickChek store opened on March 15, 1967 in Dunellen, located in Middlesex County.

“We feel our customers deserve more than a one-day celebration,” said Durling.  “We have 50 very exciting offers over the next two months covering our extensive menu of fresh food, beverages and on-the-go snack items that we’re sure you’ll enjoy.”

New Brunswick Today caught up with Store Leader, Mike Dipierro, who was busy training his crew at the spacious new fuel “forecourt.”

“[The store has] been in the works for quite some time,” said Dipierro.  “We should have been open already, but Tuesday’s our day.”

Asked to elaborate, he said they needed to make upgrades at the street. The store is located at the high-traffic intersection on the border of North Brunswick and New Brunswick.

“We did the sidewalks and some other things and there was a telephone pole still out on the street, so we had to get three sets of wires off of that,” Dipiero said.

“It’s all good now. We are alive and good to go.”

In addition to its coffee “wall,” the new store will “feature a Q Café where friendly baristas will custom-make more than 60 varieties of handcrafted hot and iced cold drinks, including blended-to-order fruit smoothies and fresh-brewed espressos,” said the privately-held company in a news release.

“We [will] have the latest and the greatest of everything,” added Dipierro.

The new store is just over a 2 miles car ride from an established Wawa in North Brunswick, located at Route 27 and Cousins Lane, though it doesn’t sell fuel.

The new store creates 45 new jobs in North Brunswick, says QuikChek, including eight management positions. New convenience stores typically generate as much as $1 million in tax revenues, and have a positive impact on the local economy, added QuickChek.

The company is known to be selective in who it hires to execute the proper customer service it aims for, but a large number of prospective employees fail the required drug test, according to one QuickChek Food Service Leader in Central Jersey, who declined to specify the percentage of people who test positive. 

Convenience stores are taking business away from supermarkets, fast-food, and fast-casual restaurants, while constantly seeking new ways to expand and improve foodservice offerings, according to multiple reports. The buzz in the industry is that 2017 will be a strong growth year in the fresh convenience/foodservice category. 

QuickChek stores provide one-stop shopping, says the company, offering a wide variety of grocery and market items including fresh baked goods from an in-store bakery. And plenty of grab-and-go items such as packages of turkey breast or cups of yogurt are displayed in highly visible areas of the store.

“We strive to be the neighborhood shopping destination close to where our customers live and work,” said Durling.

“Our plan has been to maintain good, steady growth over time. Being privately held allows us to succeed at our pace.”

In New Jersey, fuel is available at about 45% of QuickChek’s locations. 

Business Reporter at New Brunswick Today | dschatz@nb.today

Dave is an award-winning business reporter who has authored over 200 articles for New Brunswick Today.

Dave is an award-winning business reporter who has authored over 200 articles for New Brunswick Today.