March 28, 2024

Kwik Star plans to have 10 locations in the Sioux Falls area before the end of the year, with six already open and four more on the way.

The Brandon store opened six months ago as the first in the area for the Wisconsin-based gas station and convenience store and was followed quickly by four locations in Sioux Falls and one in Harrisburg.

Customers have been “surprised how much of a neighborhood grocery store we are,” district manager Joe Stortz said. “We still get people coming in saying, ‘I didn’t realize you guys had all this.'”

The next location to open will be in early August at 85th Street and Bergamot Avenue near the future 85th Street interchange at Interstate 29.

Then in mid-August, Harrisburg’s second location will open at Minnesota Avenue and Tom Sawyer Trail.

Northwest Sioux Falls will see a new location in late September at Madison Street and Ebenezer Avenue.

In mid-October, Kwik Star will open in northeast Sioux Falls at Madison and Finnegan Avenue, not far from where Sanford Health and Lewis Drug recently opened.

“And we have more to do,” Stortz said, adding that could include far northwest Sioux Falls and possibly Tea.

For now, hiring is starting for the two locations opening in August and the handful of open positions available at existing stores.

“We stopped taking applications at most of the stores two months ago, and the only applications we’re taking now are if someone wants to work part-time overnight or part-time kitchen second shift,” Stortz said. “We raised the bar for hiring. We raised the starting wage for a lot of places, and it’s good because it needed to happen. And we raised the competition for your day-to-day groceries.”

Food sales in Sioux Falls “are phenomenal,” he added. “That’s taking off very well.”

Kwik Star has an office at 4009 W. 49th St. where hiring will kick off Tuesday, April 2, for the new stores. Current opportunities can be found here.

Kwik Star also plans 2024 openings in Brookings and in Pipestone, Minnesota, in the fourth quarter.