Rexburg Maverik celebrating before closure
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REXBURG — The Maverik on South Second West in Rexburg is giving away free drinks Friday and Saturday before closing its doors for good.
This Maverik is one of six closing in the Intermountain West.
It’s all about living up to Maverik standard, and the new Maverik gas station on the corner of Main Street and Pioneer Road is an example of that standard, said Aaron Simpson, vice president of marketing for Maverik.
Simpson said there weren’t any economic reason for closing the Maverik on Second West. He said most stores being closed needed significant upgrades. The cost of bringing it up to Maverik’s standard was too high, especially after finishing a new Maverik a mile away.
“We feel like a lot of that traffic (from the old store) will just go to the new store,” Simpson said.
The new Maverik gas stations are 5,000 square feet and are fully outdoors themed. They also have Maveriks Bon Fire grill, a fresh food service offering with room for employees to prepare food on the main floor.
Simpson said it’s all about giving customers a sense of adventure.
“We actually want people to feel like they’ve walked into the great outdoors,” Simpson said.
Bryce Lawrence, a Rexburg local, said this announcement didn’t come as a shock.
“That one’s kind of the small, sad one and across the street from another gas station. It’s not a surprise,” Lawrence said. “It’s six blocks away from a brand-new Maverik, so it’s not a surprise that they’re closing it.”
Rexburg has an additional Maverik station on North Second East.
As for the employees, Simpson said the company will do its best to take care of them. Most of the Maverik employees moving out of old stores were able to be transferred right away, Simpson said.
The old Maverik building will be torn down, and underground tanks will be removed. Simpson said the site will be cleaned up to be environmentally safe and then put up for sale.
The other five Maveriks being closed include three in Boise, one in Salt Lake, and one in Gillette, Wyoming.
“We’ve actually built a couple of new stores in Boise the last couple years. We’re going to build 4 new ones (in) the next two years as well,” Simpson said.
Maverik will remodel 25 stores and open 26 new locations.
“The really cool thing is the employees feel such a connection with those customers that come in all the time,” Simpson said. “I think that just says a lot about our employees and those connections that they build with our customers every day.”