Kwik Trip has announced that it will break ground on its second distribution center, located in Deforest, Wis., on July 10.
The 280,000-square-foot site, situated on a 150-acre plot of land that the company bought earlier this year, will service 350 Kwik Trip stores when constructed. It will include a freezer, cooler and dry good space, in addition to four air conditioning rooms for banana ripening, reported WMTV 15 News.
Prior to the construction of this location, all Kwik Trip locations were being serviced from the company’s La Crosse, Wis., distribution center.
The Deforest site will aid in the company’s efforts to more efficiently stock Kwik Trip’s southern stores at a lower cost.
“With our consistent growth in the number of stores, it is important for us to find the most efficient way to provide our stores with the many products they need,” said Scott Zietlow, CEO and president of Kwik Trip. “Our new distribution center is an exciting development for Kwik Trip.”
According to Channel 3000, the center will also include a truck wash and maintenance facility, in addition to an on-site health clinic for the more than 400 employees that are expected to be hired.
Expanding As Promised
In December 2023, Kwik Trip announced its aggressive expansion plans, through which the company planned to devote $151 million to its Wisconsin operations.
In addition to the aforementioned distribution center, Kwik Trip also plans to purchase and renovate an office building in Onalaska and expand its dairy, commissary and bakery facilities in La Crosse.
According to BizTimes, the expansion will allow Kwik Trip to earn an additional $15 million in performance-based Enterprise Zone tax incentives from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC).
The goal in December was to create an additional 500 jobs by 2027.
With 506 active locations in Wisconsin, the chain operates a total of 865 stores throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and South Dakota.
Kwik Trip has made significant investments into its Wisconsin operations after entering into an Enterprise Zone agreement with WEDC in 2017. Since then, the company has invested more than $325 million into its Wisconsin support center operations and has created nearly 1,800 new jobs.
