The latest addition to the Break Time chain opened March 15 on Paris Road in Columbia. The new store, which was rebuilt on the site of a former Break Time location, is more than twelve times the size of the previous operation.
“The space was so limited at the old store,” says Break Time marketing manager Anita Bichsel. “We barely had room for two coffee pots, let alone any food offerings for customers.”
This store offers customers a variety of new food and beverage options, including: Smokestack Bar.B.Q, Hunt Brothers Pizza, Dashboard Diner, an extended coffee bar and a roller grill stocked with hotdogs and other lunch offerings. At the pumps, unleaded, midgrade and premium fuel products are available, along with diesel fuel, a new offering at the Paris Road store.
Bichsel says she expects food sales to do well at the location considering the limited lunch offerings available in the immediate area.
“We just didn’t have a large enough footprint at our old store,” says Curtis Chaney, senior vice president of retail. “When the MFA Oil laboratory relocated to the Moberly Business Support Campus, we suddenly had open real estate behind the store with which we could expand.”
In addition to its larger size and the introduction of new food and drink choices, the store has space in its basement for storage and training. The plan is to create a mini c-store in a portion of the lower level where employees can practice running a cash register, conducting safe drops and other procedures.
Chaney says other aging stores may be considered for rebuilds down the line.
“The decision to rebuild, rather than expand, such an old location comes from the fact that many of our buildings are 25 to 30 years old,” says Chaney. “We have several other Break Time locations in mind where we might construct a new store in the same spot in the future.”