K-Va-T Food Stores, better known as Food City, is expanding its business presence in Elizabethton by opening a new gas station and convenience store on Broad Street.
The grocery store chain is in the process of purchasing the Racetrack Raceway convenience store next door to Subway and Carter County Bank to open a Gas & Go Convenience Store. The move could bring an additional 18-20 jobs to Elizabethton.
K-Va-T District Manager Rick Bishop said the plan for the new convenience store was to move the gas station out of the current Food City parking lot, which he noted was a source of the majority of complaints from the Elizabethton Food City.
“That will clean up some of the congestion in the parking lot and free up some parking places,” Bishop said. “It will alleviate that problem. That is what we hear the most complaints about.”
Bishop said the store would offer traditional convenience store fare, along with some hot food items such as sandwiches and hot dogs, and some bakery selections as well.
K-Va-T Real Estate Manager Steven Spangler said the chain should close on the purchase of the building next Thursday, May 15. He added this would be the second free standing gas station/convenience store for the chain. The other opened in Coeburn, Va. last year.
The store is set to open in the first or second week of June.