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CEFCO opened Store #1116 on West Industrial Drive, just west of Coleman Park this week. -
Eighteen-wheelers pull up to the pumps to refuel at CEFCO in Sulphur Spring, which just opened midweek. -
CEFCO staff get things ready for customers, who can customize and place orders on the two terminals infront of the kitchen area.
A new travel center has opened in Sulphur Springs at 1381 West Industrial Drive, just west of the Coleman Park entrance.
The Sulphur Springs location is one of more than 230 CEFCO convenience store locations across six states.
The Sulphur Springs location offers 12 gas pumps able to fuel 24 personal vehicles at a time. In addition, Store 1116 offers eight pumps on the back of the business for fueling big rigs. The location, per the agreement with the City of Sulphur Springs, does not offer overnight parking for truck drivers.
The Sulphur Springs CEFCO station does have one open and another potential entrance to better serve indivdiuals who visit Coleman Park. The business can also be accessed from Industrial and has truck drivers reentering the road on Hillcrest Drive.
Upon agreement and installation by Texas Department of Transportation, the business also agreed to pay for a traffic light to be installed just off the Hillcrest Drive access to the business, to better and more safely direct traffic entering and exiting the location as well as entering Hillcrest Drive from Woodbridge Crossing.
The 24-hour store offers a variety of food and drink options, including CEFCO Kitchen and the option to input into the terminal what items are desired for freshly prepared foods. Among the foods offered are pizza, brisket tacos, chorizo and chicken.
A fresh station allows visitors to select and prepare hot dogs and nachos. Also offered are fresh, healthy food options, as well as breakfast pastries and kolaches, cookies, muffins, donuts and danishes, an assortment of hot and cold coffees and fountain drinks.
The facility is well lit, offers restrooms, has lottery tickets and an ATM.
Those in need of natural gas can obtain Blue Rhino gas bottles, and an air pump if there's a need to add air to a tire.
About CEFCO
In 1952, Clarence Edison 'C.E.' Fikes opened a single Texaco filling station in his hometown of Cameron, Texas.
In 1962, C.E. Fikes became a Texaco consignee in the Cameron area. He continued expanding his Texaco consignee business over the next few years. In 1971, C.E.’s son, James, completed his military service and returned home to join his dad's business. James later became executive officer of CEFCO’s parent company, Fikes Wholesale, Inc. (FIKES).
CEFCO opened its first convenience store in 1979. When founder C.E. Fikes died in 1988, he left the company to James. Under James leadership, CEFCO had grown to seven stores by 1994, when James Fikes moved the company headquarters to Temple.
In 2000, Raymond Smith joined Fikes as COO and has been instrumental in CEFCO’s continued growth and success. Smith currenlty serves as president of FIKES. From 1994 to 2006, the number of CEFCO stores grew at an average rate of over 20% per year. By the end of 2006, CEFCO operated 69 convenience stores in Texas.
In December 2007, FIKES acquired Deweese Enterprises, Inc., which operated 45 convenience stores in Mississippi and Alabama, expanding CEFCO’s operations outside of Texas for the first time.
In August 2011, FIKES acquired Food Fast Corporation, and CEFCO took over the Food Fast stores located in East Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Four months later, CEFCO took over operations of the Taylor convenience store chain, which had stores in West Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas. During that time, CEFCO continued to build new-to-industry locations, primarily in Texas.
In 2014, CEFCO built and began operating its first store in Florida.
Today, CEFCO operates more than 200 stores in four states — Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. CEFCO continues to grow by building new stores, and exploring acquisition opportunities.
In addition to adhoc donations and volunteering, CEFCO hosts an annual golf tournament, preceded by months of charitable fundraising activities at the store and corporate levels. CEFCO has raised and donated over $3.3 million to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and, through the C.E. Fikes Endowed Scholarships, has made secondary education financially available to students at a number of colleges and universities where the business operates, according to information provided on the CEFCO website.