Houston, Texas-based CITGO recently announced the grand openings of three new sites throughout Wisconsin, located in Milwaukee, Lodi and Deforest. Of the three sites, Milwaukee is a CITGO Spot c-store and the Lodi and Deforest sites are Allstop Travel Plazas.
After demolishing the existing facilities, the local owners built new, expanded stores and gas pumps and reimaged the sites under the CITGO brand.
CITGO’s Manager of Brand Programs, Joey Low, told CStore Decisions that Wisconsin is a key market for the company.
“We supply that market from our Lemont refinery, so we have great supply into Wisconsin,” he said. “We’ll want to keep growing that market for sure.”
Each new store features quick-service options, convenience items, accessible fuel pumps and much more.
The grand opening ceremonies included giveaways of CITGO Fuel Cards for customers who registered for Club CITGO, t-shirts and other merchandise, free coffee and free hot dogs at lunch for the local communities.
The Lodi and Deforest locations even received a visit from the University of Wisconsin Marching Band.
“We offer (grand opening services) to all of our new locations,” said Low. “As a matter of fact, we do it for a lot of existing locations as well. So, when we do it for an existing location, we call it a customer appreciation event.”
Low noted that this can be an extremely effective way for operators to engage with their communities and become further integrated with their customers.
“The idea here is, you take time out of your normal business, generate a little bit of excitement for the consumer, make them feel welcomed and thanked for their business,” he continued. “And so, the idea is to really get ingrained with that consumer and drive that locally owned kind of message.”
Reimaging For The Future
These reimaged sites are part of CITGO’s efforts to “illuminate” all stores by 2026. The company is planning to introduce brand new lighting and refreshed branding to fit its new look. As of May, 76% of CITGO sites sport the refurbished design.
“Illuminate offers a really a low-cost option (to dealers and marketers) to upgrade their image,” said Greg Caponegro, general manager of Light Oils Sales for CITGO Petroleum, told CStore Decisions. “There’s no upfront cost to the dealer or the marketer because everything is amortized. And because it’s such a great look and a great image, it increases the volume outside and inside the store.”
The design aims to brighten both the forecourt and the backcourt.
Overall, by upgrading to Illuminate, sites see a 7-10% increase in fuel volume, with many seeing a 30% or higher increase in volume.
As CITGO looks to the future, it plans to focus on both store design and loyalty, as the company looks to enhance its current Club CITGO loyalty program.
