Clark Retail Enterprises, Glen Ellyn, IL, opens its newest convenience store format, Oh! Zone, this month in Normal, IL, with plans to add six stores this year and as many as 25 in 2001.
The large, upscale c-stores are divided into “zones” tailored by consumer lifestyle. Clark contracted with Chicago restaurant Gino’s East to put branded Gino’s departments in Oh! Zone stores. Other zones are Fresh Zone, Value Zone, and Bulk Zone, as well as Four Corners coffee and bakery, a new brand Clark developed in-house.
Clark also will put Lighthouse tobacco and spirits sections in some stores, using the name it branded with a one-year-old freestanding store in suburban Chicago (July ’98 promo). Clark plans to roll successful “zones” into its 900 existing On the Go c-stores and gas stations, probably more quickly than it adds whole Oh! Zone stores. “This will be our little R&D lab” to test new products and merchandising, says vp-marketing and corporate communications John Matthews.
Separately, Clark is putting Lighthouse-branded smoking lounges in airports, starting in Denver this winter.
Clark spun off from Clark Refining & Marketing in July when investment group Apollo, Inc. bought the retail business. The company is shopping hard to expand in and beyond the five Midwestern states in its footprint.
Executives have asked manufacturers to scout acquisitions and make transitions smooth, promising in exchange to simplify promotion execution by broadening reach and uniformity among stores.
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