- You have not saved any projects.
Thornton's
Shook Kelley partnered with Thorntons to transform the brand’s perception from a typical gas station to a genuine food destination.
Thorntons, founded in 1971, is a gasoline and convenience store company headquartered in Louisville, with over 165 locations in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Florida. Shook Kelley partnered with Thorntons to study its convenience stores and develop a prototype concept that could transform the brand’s perception and distinguish it from competitors.
The convenience store industry has been challenged in recent years to change consumer perceptions and get away from being the expected destination for gas, beer, cigarettes, hot dog rollers and truck stop junk food. Thorntons, in particular, had been struggling to distinguish its brand from the crowd of traditional gas station convenience store competitors in the Midwest. Shook Kelley’s brand strategy work with Thorntons mapped out the challenging competitive environment for the food retail brand that Thorntons wanted to become, expanding their horizons beyond the traditional c-store competitive set. The strategy also considered new directions in food culture and health, especially as it impacted the everyday lives of Thorntons’ established customer base and its potential growth markets. Based on these insights, Shook Kelley helped create a vision for the brand’s growth opportunities moving forward.
The new design breaks the mold of the convenience store, but builds on it, too.
The new Thorntons store prototype quite literally gets away from the customary convenience store box, intersecting two forms together to immediately communicate a different kind of food experience perception from the street. While Thorntons continues to offer a lot of the solutions customers have come to expect, the newly outlined red box design introduces a bigger space for fresh food and a broader selection of drinks. The new design breaks the mold of the convenience store, but builds on it, too. Additionally, Shook Kelley redeveloped the Thorntons brand identity and environmental graphics to better communicate the sense of a brand that is fresh, on-the-go, optimistic, fun and lighthearted.
The new Thorntons prototype stores have been an enormous success. Customer counts have risen 36% in the new store formats. Food units have grown by at least 15% or more in selected locations. Drinks have skyrocketed 81% in unit sales. And somewhat surprisingly, the new locations have even seen a significant growth in fuel sales, growing 26% in gallons sold.
While Shook Kelley’s new store strategy anticipated a growth in fresh food sales, the Thorntons organization has been prompted to expand its fresh selection even further since its engagement with Shook Kelley. Over time, the new brand direction has transformed the company, as Thorntons is now moving away from its traditional focus on gas pumps and moving towards building a reputation for fresh food offerings. Thorntons is even beginning to introduce food service kitchens into some of its locations. Instead of just another quick gas fill-up, the Thorntons brand is now attracting more people to take notice and step inside their stores.
Thorntons, founded in 1971, is a gasoline and convenience store company headquartered in Louisville, with over 165 locations in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee and Florida. Shook Kelley partnered with Thorntons to study its convenience stores and develop a prototype concept that could transform the brand’s perception and distinguish it from competitors.
The convenience store industry has been challenged in recent years to change consumer perceptions and get away from being the expected destination for gas, beer, cigarettes, hot dog rollers and truck stop junk food. Thorntons, in particular, had been struggling to distinguish its brand from the crowd of traditional gas station convenience store competitors in the Midwest. Shook Kelley’s brand strategy work with Thorntons mapped out the challenging competitive environment for the food retail brand that Thorntons wanted to become, expanding their horizons beyond the traditional c-store competitive set. The strategy also considered new directions in food culture and health, especially as it impacted the everyday lives of Thorntons’ established customer base and its potential growth markets. Based on these insights, Shook Kelley helped create a vision for the brand’s growth opportunities moving forward.
The new design breaks the mold of the convenience store, but builds on it, too.
The new Thorntons store prototype quite literally gets away from the customary convenience store box, intersecting two forms together to immediately communicate a different kind of food experience perception from the street. While Thorntons continues to offer a lot of the solutions customers have come to expect, the newly outlined red box design introduces a bigger space for fresh food and a broader selection of drinks. The new design breaks the mold of the convenience store, but builds on it, too. Additionally, Shook Kelley redeveloped the Thorntons brand identity and environmental graphics to better communicate the sense of a brand that is fresh, on-the-go, optimistic, fun and lighthearted.
The new Thorntons prototype stores have been an enormous success. Customer counts have risen 36% in the new store formats. Food units have grown by at least 15% or more in selected locations. Drinks have skyrocketed 81% in unit sales. And somewhat surprisingly, the new locations have even seen a significant growth in fuel sales, growing 26% in gallons sold.
While Shook Kelley’s new store strategy anticipated a growth in fresh food sales, the Thorntons organization has been prompted to expand its fresh selection even further since its engagement with Shook Kelley. Over time, the new brand direction has transformed the company, as Thorntons is now moving away from its traditional focus on gas pumps and moving towards building a reputation for fresh food offerings. Thorntons is even beginning to introduce food service kitchens into some of its locations. Instead of just another quick gas fill-up, the Thorntons brand is now attracting more people to take notice and step inside their stores.