(Radio Iowa) — The Ankeny-based Casey’s Convenience store chain continues adding news stores and also recently announced the company will build its third distribution center in Joplin, Missouri. Casey’s C-E-O Darren Rebelez talked about the timeline for the new center during this week’s conference call with investors. “We plan on breaking ground later this month — with an estimated completion date in the spring of 2021. Upon completion we plan to immediately serve approximately 500 stores from this center — which will allow our network to operate more efficient and alleviate pressure off our current distribution centers,” Rebelez explains.

He says this new center will make it easier to service stores. “That southern-southwestern part of our geography is being serviced our of Ankeny, Iowa and Terra Haute, Indiana. That’s a pretty long haul,” according to Rebelez. “When we open up that facility in the spring of 21 — we’ll immediately be able to service about 500 stores out of that facility — which will really start to right size our infrastructure and reduce the overall cost to serve those stores.” Rebelez says the facility will be able to meet current and future needs.

“It does expand our ability to reach into some new geographies that we are not currently in. So, the immediate impact would be on the efficiency side and the more longer term would be on the development side,” he says. The new center will have state-of-the art systems that along with the location gives them the ability to rapidly meet the needs of the stores in the region. “We’re designing this to be more automated and more efficient than perhaps our other two distribution centers,” Rebelez says. “We also have additional land adjacent to the site that we could expand if we need to.”

The company currently has 21-hundred-46 stores in 16 states.