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Operators Gain New Insights During NATSO Connect Retail Tour

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Touring best-in-class retail locations and seeing great ideas in action can provide inspiration to truckstop and travel plaza operators, and NATSO Connect’s retail tour gave operators an up-close look at several Dallas-area locations. 

Chad Stanford, vice president of real estate for QuikTrip, took attendees on a guided tour of the company’s location at I-35 and State Highway 114. “This was a natural fit for a truck diesel offer,” Stanford said. 

QuikTrip tries to find locations with trucking customers and population density to support employment and provide local customers. The 7,000-square-foot location features 12 gas lanes and six diesel lanes and about 35 employees. 

Attendees also took part in a self-guided tour of Buc-ees before Mohamed Sharaf, vice president of Victron Energy took operators on a guided tour of Victron Energy’s Texas Best Smokehouse in Denison, which opened in November. The 15,500-square-foot location features several food concepts, including Einstein’s Bagels, Fuzzy’s Tacos in addition to the homemade barbeque. “Every store is custom made based on the community,” Sharaf said.

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Mindy Long
Mindy Long is a journalist and editor specializing in the logistics, transportation and fueling industries. She has been writing professionally for more than 25 years and launched her freelance business in 2008. Prior to going freelance, she served as editor of Stop Watch, a staff reporter at Transport Topics, and a Washington correspondent for WCAX-TV in Burlington, Vermont. Her work appears in a variety of media outlets.

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