_____________________________________________________________________________________ Southwest
Georgia Oil
Tradition meets innovation
Southwest Georgia Oil transforms convenience stores into a hot destination for homemade cooking
Nearly three years after our interview with Southwest Georgia Oil ( SWGO ) for Retail Merchandiser , Glennie Bench , who is now President , fills us in on the company ’ s latest endeavors . “ A lot has been happening since we last spoke . At the time , we had just opened two of our current prototype stores : one was a raze and rebuild and the other was a new-tomarket store . Both ended up surpassing our expectations , prompting us to build another raze and rebuild as well as four new-to-market stores . Most of them have performed very well , and we believe that they have a great future ahead of them . Indeed , we have seen tremendous growth since our last feature ,” she opens .
“ In addition to that , we standardized the exterior appearance of all convenience and market stores under the SunStop brand , ensuring the curb appeal looked the same everywhere . We also began the rigorous process of renovating , remodeling and refreshing the interior of the stores . As you can imagine , with 80 stores acquired in a variety of locations over many years , we needed to allocate different levels of attention to each one of them . Some stores needed significant updates , like adding or expanding delis and undertaking extensive renovations , almost gutting and rebuilding from scratch . In other cases , we only undertook minor modifications , such as installing interior graphics . Although we have not yet completed this process – which can be very expensive , time consuming , and disruptive to our operations – we are carrying out these improvements as opportunities present themselves ,” she goes on .
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