East Tennessee convenience store chain Weigel’s, which has eyed entry into the Chattanooga market for years, expects to open its first store here in about three weeks, followed by its second in early June.
“We’re getting closer,” said Bill Weigel, chairman and chief executive of the company based in Powell, just outside Knoxville. “Everything goes slower than you think.”
The first store will open in Hixson on Highway 153 next to Academy Sports + Outdoors. The second is located at Highway 153 and Shallowford Road at the site of a former auto dealership.
While each store will hold about 6,000 square feet of space along with gasoline pumps, the Shallowford Road facility also will offer truck fueling, Weigel said.
The namesake chain eventually expects to open at least a half dozen units in the market, with the first two each costing from $8 million to $9 million and employing from 35 to 40 people, he said in a telephone interview.