You might think that news about a Des Moines suburb getting another gas station isn’t too notable, but in this case, I found something.
Land was cleared last fall for a Casey’s at the northeast corner of University Avenue and 70th Street in Windsor Heights, across from the Hy-Vee. (WHO had a story in April about the previous site owner.)
In related developments for the Ankeny-based chain, based on the chain’s website and Google Street View:
- Ida Grove got a Casey’s in the 2018-19 time frame.
- One just opened in Epworth on the south side of the US 20 exit, so recently that a mid-2023 Street View image showed a lot just beginning to be cleared.
- The Palo Mini Mart at 1st Street and Blairs Ferry Road was rebranded as a Casey’s sometime in the past three years.
- The Sinclair station in Lansing was rebranded as a Casey’s in the past 15 months.
- Fruitland, just south of Muscatine, technically doesn’t have one, but there’s one a mile north of town on US 61.
Now that the Casey’s in Windsor Heights has opened, the largest community in Iowa without one is Atkins. Following it, in descending order based on 2020 population, are Parkersburg, Manson, Remsen, Hartley … and Traer. There are now only 20 towns in Iowa with a population above 1,000 without a Casey’s.
But if not having a Casey’s is what keeps Pizza Palace going, I’m happy for Traer to keep the distinction.
As a side note, Bondurant having a giant Kum & Go and giant Kwik Star on US 65 feels a little nuts to me, but I can only imagine how it feels to someone who’s lived in a place that has doubled in population in 2010.