Kwik Trip

starts grand

opening today

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The city's first Kwik Trip convenience store and gas station kicks off a month-long grand opening celebration with a ribbon-cutting this morning.

Although the ribbon-cutting ceremony is scheduled for 11 a.m., the grand opening specials will start at around 6 a.m., Store Leader Jerry Kamm said.

"We're going to have a lot of good specials today," Kamm explained. "We're going to have our one-pound loaf of bread on sale, starting today, every day during the grand opening three loaves for a dollar, and we're going to have a very good price on bananas."

Then, on Thursday, Kwik Trip will be giving away a lot of free prizes by spinning a wheel; there will also be drawings for prizes, Kamm said.

Kwik Trip took over the former Texaco station on South Broadway between 15th and 16th South streets on Jan. 28. The LaCrosse, Wis.-based firm, which was formed in May, 1965, now has more than 330 stores in Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota, including four in Mankato and seven or eight in the Rochester area. The New Ulm store is the firm's western-most store in Minnesota.

"The name was chosen to communicate speed, ease of shopping and friendliness," Kamm said. Kamm is a native of New Ulm who worked for Randall Valu Center for 33 years before joining Kwik Trip as manager of the New Ulm store.

"We have our own milk producing plant with the legendary milk in a bag, and it's very popular," Kamm said. "We also have our own bakery and commissary facilities where we produce bread, baked goods, muffins, bagels and commercial bread."

The store caters to coffee lovers, too.

"We're known for our fresh brewed coffee; we have six different varieties out there all the time, six flavored varieties plus our own karuba bean coffee," Kamm said. "Our bean coffee is freshly ground."

The flavored coffees come in packets made by Kwik Trip at its warehouse facility.

"Then we have a dark roasted, a little bit stronger coffee, more of a European coffee," Kamm said. "We also have the flavored cappuccinos, of course.

Another feature that only a dozen other Kwik Trips have is the touch-free car wash inherited from Texaco. The car wash is only two years old so Kamm said there are no plans to change anything.

"We offer three different washes -- standard, deluxe and ultimate. With purchase of gas, each one is $1 off" Kamm explained. "We're also selling car-wash booklets where you can buy a pack of 10 car washes at a considerable savings."

The store will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Kamm said Kwik Trip's success hasn't happened by accident; the firm's mission statement tells it all.

"Our mission is to serve our customers and community more effectively than anyone else by treating our customers and our co-workers the way we ourselves would like to be treated."