The soon-to-be Kwik Trip convenience store and gas station is shown still under construction in this photo from Sept. 30. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

The Upper Peninsula’s newest Kwik Trip, going into where Super One grocery store used to be at 501 N. Lincoln Road in Escanaba, is set to open Wednesday, Nov. 12.

After exhausting its life as a Super One grocery store in 2017, the property sat vacant before its fate was handed to the City of Escanaba Brownfield Redevelopment Authority. With utilities disconnected, the property was determined blighted.

Though the city had conversations about building a hotel on the site, it was Kwik Trip that ultimately gained approval to develop there. Kwik Trip, a La Crosse, Wis.-based chain of convenience store/gas stations, bought the property from DP Properties, which operates the Delta Plaza Mall.

In December 2024, the city approved Kwik Trip’s proposed site plan for a 13,200-square-foot building with car wash and 10 gas pumps. The new store was to be a “Generation Three” design similar to those in Ironwood, Bessemer, Iron Mountain and Kingsford.

This May, demolition began on the old Super One building. Site clearing and construction followed this spring, summer and now autumn.

Now, dates have been set for the doors of the Escanaba Kwik Trip, store No. 1751, to open to the public.

“The store in Escanaba will be opening on Nov. 12 at 5 a.m.,” a public relations specialist for the chain told the Daily Press.

Later that day, an open house is scheduled for 3:30 to 5:50 p.m., with a ribbon-cutting to follow.

Founded in 1965, Kwik Trip has 901 stores in six states. Its locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula use the name Kwik Trip; in Illinois, Iowa and South Dakota, the business operates as Kwik Star.

Just three weeks before the opening of the Escanaba store, another U.P. location will welcome customers. A Kwik Trip in Ishpeming is set to open Oct. 23.