Harps to Open First Pennzmart Store

Harps Food Stores and Mitchell Oil Co. plan to open the first Pennzmart convenience store by November at the corner of U.S. Highway 412 and Pleasant Street in Springdale.

The 3,000-SF store will be an experiment for Harps, says Roger Collins, executive vice president for the Springdale-based grocery company.

“We don’t plan to roll out a bunch of convenience stores,” he says.

The store will be used to demonstrate products and displays to other convenience store operators, Collins says. Harps supplies food items to some 60 area convenience stores through its Discount Distributors affiliate, which was founded last year.

Mitchell Oil Co., which has been in operation in Fayetteville since 1966, is a licensed Pennzoil distributor, hence the name Pennzmart for the convenience store.

Construction of the Pennzmart began about the first of August.

A Shakey’s Frozen Custard outlet will also be located in the Pennzmart, says Stanley Rogers, president of Mitchell Oil Co.