YOUR CO-OP NOW OPERATES 11 CENEX C-STORES

Posted: 9/6/2022

The Center Valley Cenex is located five miles south of Black Creek, WI, and eight miles north of metro Appleton on County Trunk A. The store serves farmers, acreage owners, and travelers—so its customers live both near and far.

Formerly part of Scenic Valley Cooperative, the store carries more country store items than most of ProVision’s other c-stores. That’s because it caters to a wide variety of rural dwellers.

“We have some dairy farms around here, but we also have a variety of people who have moved from the city out into the country,” says Chris Jurgens, manager of the Center Valley Store. For that reason, the store carries an inventory of bagged feeds for cattle, but also feed and accessories for raising chickens, rabbits, and other lifestyle animals. There’s also an assortment of dog and cat foods as well as a wall of pet toys and treats.

“We have quite a large lawn and garden section, with fertilizer, chemicals, seed potatoes and onion sets, and various other garden seeds,” continues Chris. In fact, Center Valley opened its garden center toward the end of April, offering single bedding plants for use in creating a flower garden at home, and potatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash for putting in a garden.

“We also get some travelers from the Milwaukee area and Illinois,” states Chris. “They’ve found us, and we have become their pitstop as they head north.”Something unique about this Cenex c-store is the average age of the employees."

The youngest employee working here is 52 years old,” states Chris. The longevity of the employees says something about how happy they are with their work.

“Two of them are retired from a profession and decided to work here to keep busy,” says Chris, who has managed the store for 19 years and has worked there for 21 years.

Of course, the Center Valley Store has the usual selection of highway and off-road diesel, three grades of gas, and kerosene, as well as a limited amount of foods since there are a couple of restaurants in the area. And since the store is located out of town, they carry more grocery items than usual. In short, it’s a pr ofitable retail business that serv es the mult ifaceted population surrounding it and traveling up the highway.

“Center Valley is a welcome addition to our chain of c-st ores,” says Troy Thompson, ProVision’s energy division manager. “They’re located near a small town, so it kind of fits what we are as a coop. Chris has done a good job of supporting the community where the store is located.”