BRICK - QuickChek, in an effort to attract sought-after millennial customers, is making some changes.

You'll see it when you enter through the door at the Readington-based convenience store chain's new store on Route 70 in Brick. The store, which also includes 16 fueling stations, opened Tuesday morning at 5 a.m.

The store's cash registers are not the first thing you'll see. Instead, the store has an open layout with an immediate view of what Chief Executive Officer Dean Durling said is its chief focus: fresh food, such as sandwiches, wraps, and made-to-order items.

"When you walk in the store, we want to present our fresh food because fresh food is the most important category in our store,'" Durling said.

Welcome to the front seats of a competitive tug of war. QuickChek and its big competitor Wawa are battling it out.

"They have dramatically increased the look of the stores, the quality of the food, the variety of the food," said Bonnie Riggs, a restaurant analyst with NPD Group. "Just like it is in the restaurant business, it really is a battle for market share."

In Monmouth and Ocean counties, it's heating up. QuickChek will open a new store on Route 37 at Fisher Boulevard in Toms River on Oct. 31. Wawa plans to open a store with gas pumps later this fall in South Toms River right off the Garden State Parkway.

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Litigation that blocked proposed a Wawa store and a QuickChek store in Eatontown was recently dropped.

A QuickChek is slated for the intersection of routes 35 and 36 at a location that once was home to an Ethan Allen furniture store. A Wawa is set for the corner of Wyckoff Road and Route 35, the site of an old Lube-it-all service station. Each of those locations will have gas pumps too.

"We are going to start seeing some really big movement" in the area, Eatontown Mayor Dennis Connelly said.

Durling, QuickChek's CEO, did not have any additional information about the Eatontown location. Once built, the company's current store on Wyckoff Road will be closed.

The Brick store is the latest iteration of QuickChek's new prototype store, the first in Ocean County. An earlier version was opened in Monroe in August.

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"About a year ago, we started trying to redefine our store in today's consumer's mind," Durling said.

The reinvention started with the millennial shopper in mind, Durling said, but encompasses attributes that are important to other customers too.

There's more fresh food, snacks, meals and soups with fresh ingredients, and items baked fresh in the store. The new look also features large stand-alone food displays and a soup station.

There's also outdoor and indoor seating areas, as well as wifi and device charging stations.

The 5,496-square-foot store has an open layout with earth-tone colors. "It feels a lot more open," Durling said. "When customers come in, it's not congested, cluttered and just feels fresher."

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Have you seen a construction project in Monmouth or Ocean counties and wanted to know what was going there? Contact business writer David P. Willis dwillis@gannettnj.com, and we will look into it for a future column.

David P. Willis: 732-643-4039; dwillis@gannettnj.com; facebook.com/dpwillis732.