Convenience store sees seamless transition in merger

There’s a new look about the exterior of the Lake Holcombe Cenex Convenience Store and a new name, too. The gas station is now called the River Country Convenience Store and the gas pumps are in a different location.

The changes came about after it was announced late last summer, that River Country Co-op had merged with Heartland Cooperative Services. With the merger, River Country acquired the Holcombe Cenex and Holcombe 12-Mile store, as well as convenience stores in Sheldon, Weyerhaeuser, Edgar, Dorchester, Athens, Merrill and Greenwood.

“I think we have a total of 21 c-stores now, altogether,” said Brad Podevels, vice president of retail-east.

The convenience stores now span from west of Eau Claire, east to Merrill.

“So, really, a big chunk of Wisconsin, is River Country,” said Lisa Hardy, marketing and graphics.

A merger has been in the works off and on for about three years, and made sense, as the two cooperatives were very similar. Both were branded as Cenex, offered a rewards/ points program, and had the same grocery, hot food and beer distributors.

“It was basically just a name change,” said Podevels. “The rewards are the same, we’re just issuing new River Country cards. You can still use your Heartland card, it’ll still work.” In future, Podevels says they will switch the cards over so they all say River Country, but the points and discounts will remain the same. The rewards cards will also work in any of the 21 convenience stores in the state.

As for the change in the gas pump location, there were two reasons for the move. One is to adhere to new federal and state regulations, where all pumps have to have containments in the event of leakage, as well as needing a “sub” to hold all the leakage.

The second reason is to create a footprint for future plans.

Moving the pumps from the west side to the south side, also created a new driveway coming from the south end. Podevels said the co-op is working with the state to make that driveway official and take the (old) middle driveway out, causing easier traffic flow.

There is also an electric car charging system, installed by Chippewa Valley Electric Company, where service is by donations.

“It takes it anywhere from 20 minutes to a half hour to charge,” said Podevels.

There has been exterior work done on the outside of the building, with work planned for the inside of the store. Overall, Podevels says the transition was pretty seamless.

“Come on inside and check out the new look inside,” said Podevels.