Kum & Go closing urban walk-up stores except in Des Moines
Kum & Go is walking away from its walk-up urban store concept in Ames, Denver and Omaha, Nebraska.
The gas station and convenience store chain will close four of the five gas pump-less downtown locations it opened in the past three years, except for the original one at Seventh and Locust streets in Des Moines, its headquarters, spokesperson Taylor Boland said Wednesday.
Denver business publication BusinessDen.com first reported news of the closures. The two in-town Denver locations will shut down Dec. 12, Boland said, and those in Ames and Omaha will close by Dec. 19.
The stores catered to downtown workers and residents, eschewing gas for sales of healthy food, pizza, sandwiches, salads and select higher-end wine and liquor. The stores also had packaged snacks and household medicines and toiletries, and did not have parking lots.
Boland described the concept as a "test for our organization."
"We've learned a lot from operating these fuel-less concepts. However, they no longer fit into our long-term plans for expansion," Boland said. "We will focus on our traditional stores in the area that can accommodate all of our fresh food offerings, as well as a selection of fuels."
More:Kum & Go launches new menu featuring healthier foods like pulled pork quinoa bowls
Kum & Go debuted the Des Moines store in May 2020 at the site of one of the most famous episodes in Des Moines civil rights history. Denied service in 1948 at the Katz Drug Store where the Kum & Go store now is, Iowa civil rights pioneer Edna Griffin staged boycotts and sit-ins and participated in a legal case that ended up before the state Supreme Court, affirming that discrimination was indeed illegal in Iowa.
The urban Kum & Go stores without gas pumps occupied far less space than the chain's traditional stores, which sit on 1 1/2 acre lots, mainly in suburban areas. They focused on sustainability, with compostable tableware and straws and recyclable cups and lids.
Kum & Go saw them as a way to draw the chain's fans who live or work in city centers.
"There are great fans of Kum & Go that are unable to have their needs met during the majority of their workday due to our locations," Tanner Krause, president and CEO of Kum & Go, said when the concept was announced in October 2019. " … We think this is a great opportunity to offer them a nice, safe, elevated retail experience."
The idea also came as convenience store chains, looking to a future with increasing numbers of electric vehicles, have explored ways to reduce their dependency on gas sales. Kum & Go rival Casey's General Stores, based in Ankeny, opened its first gas pump-less store in April near Drake University.
Kum & Go's concept may have suffered from its timing. Announced only a few months before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the stores opened as office vacancy rates rose nationwide and many downtown office workers were laboring from home. As recently as February, six in 10 U.S. office workers were still working mainly from home, according to the Pew Research Center.
At the time of the announcement, Kum & Go leaders said that if the pilot stores were successful, others would follow in the 11 states Kum & Go serves. The chain opened its Omaha urban walk-up store in Omaha near the corner of 12th Street and Capitol Avenue, according to Fox 42 KTPM. The Ames store opened in the Campustown business district in December 2020. Stores in Denver opened in April and May 2021.
Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines location survives as Kum & Go shuts urban walk-up stores
