Anytime I’m on the road anywhere that’s not near Oklahoma City, even in the worst neighborhoods of wherever I’m visiting, QuikTrip’s are always a convenient highlight.
I always annoy people with the way I spend a few extra minutes just walking around the store, taking in the scenes of snackdom and array of refrigerators, grabbing a couple of premium all-beef hot dogs from the grill—typically topped with their flavorful fixings—and, of course, a sugar-free Red Bull for the road.
To be fair though, I also do that at OnCue here in town, but with a bit of clinical depression.
And while I haven’t been able to grow tired of my scant QuikTrip outings here in town like I have with OnCue, at least I can almost feel those insolent emotions because, according to the class acts at OKC Talk—your fan source for the latest in Louis Fowler hatred!—a QT might be opening a location at E. Hefner and I-35.
From OKC Talk:
While a standard QuikTrip range in size from 4,100 to 5,700 square feet, travel centers average approximately 8,000 square feet.
Travel centers also feature expanded kitchens as well as more gas pumps and diesel bays for trucks, which are generally located on the backside of the stores.
Though it’ll be quite out of the way, it will be nice to at least have one of those QT kitchens somewhere nearby because, man, they can pump out some delicious breakfast sandwiches when you’re on your way out of town or, I guess, Frontier City soon.
Over the past couple of years, Oklahoma City has seen a rise in mostly decent gas stations, from the aforementioned OnCues, the piss-poor versions of Casey’s taking over Circle K and those super-special 7-Elevens with adequate pseudo-Mexican eateries installed, to the best of their ability. Though there seems to be a bit of oversaturation, I’ll leave that to the mediocre local comedians to commiserate on for me.
But QuikTrip is a name that many people are truly excited for.
As The Lost Ogle first reported back in 2020, the apparent catalyst for the upswing in boutique gasoline was when the single-monikered Brown family recently sold all of their 7-Eleven holdings to the corporate overlords of centralized convenience, thereby ending the so-called “gentleman’s agreement” with QT to stay off the Browns’ tuff turf. Although to be fair, I would have like to see it end in a fistfight to the death, like real fuckin’ men.
While the QuikTrip on I-35 is the lone convenience store of theirs coming to the metro, they’re talking that a store in Norman might be opening up as well. I don’t expect many changes for about a year, but if 7-Eleven and OnCue have any near-future hopes of survival, you guys really need to step up your roller grill game. You can start by cleaning them.
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Follow Louis on Twitter at @LouisFowler and Instagram at @louisfowler78.
