One guy thought they were converting it into another Casey’s General Store it was taking so long…but reality is they were simply remaking the Southtown St. Joseph AGO Citgo service station and convenience store nearly from the ground up. At any rate…what had been planned to be about a 6 to 8 week shutdown evolved into nearly twice that and is now officially re-opened for business.
The stem to stern makeover resulted in the elimination of the car wash facility there, and a gutted building that went almost down to the stud walls to start over. Stripped to the bare walls and rebuilt from top to bottom, the AGO convenience store now gleams from wall to wall and ceiling to floor. New restrooms have been added, a walk-in beer cave is now part of the building where the car was once stood, and the building has a completely new look with a soaring entry marked by pillars, a sleek coffee island at the center of the store and an expanded beverage station offering not only soft drinks, but on-demand smoothies in a variety of flavors.
Even the clerks who man the store have a streamlined new station with easier access to everything they need to do the job quickly and efficiently.
While the job, which was launched on June 18th, had been expected to be done in about 6 to 8 weeks, in the final analysis it was fully 14 weeks that the station was off-line and out of service. They literally closed down just days before the official start of summer and didn’t reopen until Thursday morning, nearly a week after the start of fall. The reason one reader thought it was being converted to a Casey’s was the bright red exterior and the length of time the job was taking.
The makeover at Napier and Niles is actually the first of a series of major remodeling jobs that will dramatically change the business for all three of the St. Joseph AGO branded outlets from American Gas & Oil, based in Sparta.
If your normal pit stop is at the AGO gasoline service station and convenience store at Main and Pleasant Streets in downtown St. Joseph, get ready to find an alternative option for a while because in a couple of weeks that facility will be next on the list for construction crews to take on. One store clerk says it is targeted to begin the second week of October.
Now that the AGO Citgo at 2501 Niles Avenue across from the CVS Pharmacy is complete, the sister property at 220 Main Street along the I-94 Business Loop is slated to undergo similar treatment. Earlier in the year there was speculation by clerks that the entire building might be razed to make for a completely new facility at that site across from the St. Joseph Post Office, although we haven’t been able to confirm that such might be the case.
The final project of the three will follow the recent purchase of a substantial tract of land at Niles Road and I-94 where the service station and car wash facility will be bulldozed to make way for a full-scale, diesel-farm, truck stop. That station, located at 3176 Niles Road, will be the largest of the three operations when work is completed sometime next year depending on when work gets underway and how long that project takes.
American Gas & Oil first converted 19 gas stations across West Michigan to the Citgo brand from BP Amoco properties starting in the summer of 2014, which at that point resulted in 27 AGO Citgo branded stations. At that point American Gas & Oil President Jason Berris was thrilled with the Citgo partnership calling the oil company, “A huge supporter of locally owned businesses.” He also appreciated the opportunity “to offer fair pricing, the convenience of local terminals and a commitment to community involvement.”
Stay tuned for further details on the ongoing upgrades in Michigan’s Great Southwest for the team at American Gas & Oil Company of Sparta.
