"See you next time."

For customers of Kwik Trip, it's a familiar phrase, and one those customers are apparently taking to heart.

They are coming back for bananas, bread, potatoes, hot sandwiches, coffee, doughnuts, milk, take-and-bake pizza and, yes, gas. You name it and the Midwest convenience store chain probably has it.

The company, headquartered in La Crosse, has become a behemoth, redefining and dominating the convenience store market across much of Wisconsin and putting pressure on others to keep up. For small, family-owned gas stations, the presence of another Kwik Trip at seemingly every turn is nothing short of overwhelming.

The company now boasts more than 600 locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, and it continues to keep the pedal down on growth, said Hans Zietlow, director of real estate for Kwik Trip.

"We try to evenly spread out our growth between our three-state market when the best opportunities arise," he said. "In order to do that, we’re probably monitoring 200 sites at any given time to build 50 stores a year."

Kwik Trip operates a total of 376 convenience stores in the state of Wisconsin, up from 273 stores just five years ago.

Most recently, the company purchased more than 30 PDQ stores in the Madison and Milwaukee markets, Zietlow said.

In Wisconsin, as Kwik Trip continues its steady growth in towns big and small, people are noticing, competitors are evolving to keep up and some small convenience stores are having to close their doors.

Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said Kwik Trip is drawing a lot of attention in the industry. It's become a highly respected regional chain, both for its aggressive growth and its emphasis on customer service.

“It all comes down to they get that the power in how to stay competitive is with the customer, and they put an enormous focus on them," Lenard said. "If the customer is happy, the sales will follow.”

And despite the much-publicized struggle to find employees in today's tight job market, Kwik Trip apparently is having no such problems. Lenard said whenever Kwik Trip stores have jobs open the hiring process is extremely competitive because of the culture and benefits.

"Unemployment across the country is at 3.8 or 3.9 percent so it’s as tight of a market as we’ve had in 50 years," he said. "But Kwik Trip isn’t necessarily competing against other convenience stores, they are competing against everybody.

"To a certain extent it’s the mom-and-pop convenience stores that are hit the hardest, but anybody else that is looking for employees is hurt as well,” Lenard said.

In Appleton, a Piggly Wiggly grocery store went out of business in August. The franchise owner cited Kwik Trip as being one of the chains that brought too much competition for them to handle.

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In August, a Citgo on Appleton's north side closed due to a lack of sales, four years after a Kwik Trip was built next door.

To stand out and stay competitive, Lenard said, convenience remains key. But also, setting yourself apart from the rest has become even more important as large convenience store chains such as Kwik Trip have grown.

Stores must offer something different than the rest, Lenard said. But that's often difficult for small stores to do.

“The biggest challenge that the mom-and-pops face is that competition is everywhere and it’s just getting tougher," Lenard said. "If you are more than a penny or so different on the gas price, we know that people will go somewhere else. We also know that everyone sells the same snacks and drinks, so often times the hardest thing is making a bet on something different."

But owners of single stores and small convenience store chains aren't ready to give up the fight just yet.

Tony Wied, owner of the Green Bay area Dino Stop chain, said his company thrives on the competition.

“We like competition. Competition is making us get better every day and it makes us continue to improve our game," he said. "Because of the competition we continue to focus on a top level customer experience, consistency across all of our locations and the best experience you can get."

A struggle to keep up

Head west down Wisconsin Avenue in Appleton toward the Fox River Mall and you'll notice a large Moto Mart convenience store bustling with customers.

With no Kwik Trips within blocks of the location, the Moto Mart stands tall, almost as an equal to the large franchise, selling gas, car washes, snacks, groceries, hot food and more.

But as you pass Moto Mart, you can take a sharp left and on your right find a small Mobil gas station at 1201 North Badger Avenue.

The Mobil station, now owned by Jay Patel and his wife, Gauri, sat vacant for nearly two years after the bank foreclosed on the former owner in 2016.

Patel bought and renovated the small property, which sells your convenience store basics — fuel, snacks, drinks, cigarettes, beer and more. Despite the face lift, the neighborhood gas station struggles to bring in customers, feeling the presence of not only the nearby Moto Mart but the growing shadow of the Kwik Trip locations in the city.

"Everywhere there is competition right now," Patel said. "I'm only getting up to 100 people in here a day right now — it's mostly neighborhood people."

Patel moved to Appleton from Seattle to be in an area where he had more family. He, his wife and their 5-month-old daughter live in the apartment attached to the convenience store.

Patel has pulled out all the stops to draw in more customers, including keeping gas prices as low as possible, selling two-for-one sodas, pricing snacks lower than competitors and even offering a free coffee or cappuccino with a qualifying fuel purchase.

Patel said he finds himself tossing out old milk or bread almost every week because of slow sales, yet he remains positive despite struggling to break even every month.

"I'm running this store to help out the community," he said. "We will never compete with them down the street, but I'll be happy if we can start to make small margins."

Patel and his wife run the store on their own, often working upwards of 15 hours a day.

"Almost every small business you go to it is the same thing right now," he said. "It's tough."

Out with the old, in with the new

Other Wisconsin-based convenience store chains are well aware of Kwik Trip's growth, but they say they are up for the challenge.

Korneli's, a chain of three BP-branded convenience stores in Fond du Lac and North Fond du Lac, opened its first location in 2011.

At the time Korneli's was opening its first store, Kwik Trip was in the process of re-imagining their stores to make them more appealing to the consumer. The company had fewer than 400 stores and its presence in Wisconsin was far from what it is today.

As Kwik Trip continued to expand, offer more fresh local food items and even create its own app and rewards program, Korneli's chose to follow suit, owner Steve Korneli said.

"For us, that means providing more options for the customer," Korneli said. "We try to give really good customer service and also hire local people into our stores so it gives a neighborhood feel. Just trying to get people to be loyal to the local business.”

“As far as changing, it’s just us continuing to make sure we are on top of what we are doing and making sure we are doing the best we can so we can compete against them," Korneli said.

More specifically, Korneli's stands out by offering a BP loyalty program that allows shoppers to save on gas, no-fee ATMs and fresh local food like Bob's Pizza.

Standing still in the face of competition is not an option, Korneli said.

“You just never know. ... It is a struggle no matter what and it’s a business of pennies," he said. "But I’ve got a really good group of people here, which really helps.”

Further north along Interstate 41, you'll find a big green dinosaur perched out front of Dino Stop convenience stores. The dinosaur has become an icon of sorts for the company as it has grown to now own and operate seven northeast Wisconsin locations.

Wied said the company that opened its first store in 1971 also has branded its store items with the "dino" name. From the dino bakery to a dino car wash, Wied said signature brands are important to the stores' success in such a competitive environment.

“We have a very large emphasis on our signature brands, with coffee, bakery and car wash," he said. "But really good service with our branded food is extremely important to us.”

Along with the signature brands, Wied said restaurant chains that are attached to their stores offer customers quick access to the food they want, among them Arby's, McDonalds, Subway and Little Caesars Express.

Wied said the Little Caesars Express, which opened up inside of the Cedar Hedge Lane location in May, is the fourth of its kind in the country and offers customers a quick and convenient self-serve option for food.

"We really focus on quicker transactions in a friendly manner," Wied said. "Our customers are very busy and we recognize that, so we offer a convenient environment with fast and friendly service.”