Is a convenience store known for fried chicken and fries coming to Wilmington soon?
A convenience store chain known for its fried chicken and fries has plans to build its first North Carolina stores – including a few in the Wilmington area.
Baltimore-based chain Royal Farms announced its expansion into the Tar Heel State in a Monday news release. The company currently operates 263 stores across six states, including Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and West Virginia, said Shelby Kemp, a marketing manager with Royal Farms.
Wilmington is part of that growth plan with a Royal Farms convenience store, gas station and car wash already in the works in Castle Hayne, Kemp said. Plans for the project are scheduled to go before New Hanover County’s Technical Review Committee early next month.
Royal Farms has four stores planned in the Wilmington area, according to Kemp. While work on the stores is expected to start in 2023, a timeline for their completion wasn’t available. Kemp did not provide the locations of the other three stores.
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The Castle Hayne location is planned at the junction of Highway 132 and Highway 17 – two major arteries locally known as Castle Hayne Road and N. College Road. A limited liability company with ties to Royal Farms bought the three tracts of land closest to that intersection in August 2021 for a combined $2.08 million, according to New Hanover County property records.
The tracts, which are all zoned for business development, once housed a gas station and an auto business. The dilapidated and overgrown remnants of the buildings still stand on the property. Those structures will be knocked down to make way for a single-story 5,154-square-foot convenience store with 8 gas pumps and a car wash, according to site plans submitted to New Hanover County.
Royal Farms will become just one of several new gas station and convenience store chains entering the Wilmington market.
Recently, news that Wawa was looking at a possible Wilmington location caused a stir among fans of the popular convenience store chain. This summer, 7-Eleven submitted plans along Market Street for what would be its only Wilmington location. The company is also planning a location in Leland. Meanwhile Refuel – another convenience store chain – is building its first location in Southeastern North Carolina in Leland.
Royal Farms expects to open its first North Carolina location in Grandy – an unincorporated area near the Outer Banks -- next year. That will be followed by other locations across the state, including stores in Jacksonville, New Bern, Kinston, Lumberton and Greenville, according to a news release from the company.
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Company leaders have been talking about expanding into North Carolina for several years, Kemp said.
“North Carolina was definitely seen as a growth area for us,” she said. “We're just starting to move down South, and North Carolina just made a lot of sense.”
The North Carolina stores will focus on the company’s fried chicken -- a new concept for the chain, Kemp said. Other locations typically offer a wider deli selection.
The brand is known for its fried chicken and Western fries – both of which are hand-breaded and fried in the store.
“Everything's done in the back of the store, so it's really fresh,” Kemp said.
The chain will also offer standard convenience store fare along with perks that include self-grinding coffee machines, surcharge-free ATMs, free air pump stations along with lottery tickets and fuel. Each location is expected to employ around 30 people, Kemp said.
Reporter Emma Dill can be reached at edill@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Royal Farms is coming to Wilmington, as the chain expands into N.C.
