convenience stores
A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticke ...
based in
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey
Whitehouse Station, also spelled White House Station, is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located within Readington Township, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. At the 2010 United States Census, the CDP's population wa ...
with 153 stores in New Jersey and New York. The first store opened in Dunellen, New Jersey in 1967, and has since then grown into a chain. Several stores include
pharmacies
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links healt ...
, gas stations, and liquor departments.
The size of the stores range from smaller corner-type shops to larger convenience stores. Many stores are located in urban areas and most are open 24 hours a day. Former Stores with pharmacies tended to offer a pharmacy-like selection of health products and aids. Stores have
PNC Bank
The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. (stylized as PNC) is an American bank holding company and financial services corporation based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Its banking subsidiary, PNC Bank, operates in 27 states and the District ...
ATMs inside.
Initially, QuickChek stores were mini-supermarkets with mostly grocery items, snack foods, delis, candy, milk, bread, soda, medicated products, some prepackaged meats, and a small produce area. During the 1990s the stores began to offer fuel as well and gradually changed focus on snack foods, drinks, ready to eat foods, and gas stations. Still, QuickChek stores typically offer moderate amounts of basic groceries such as
bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...
,
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulat ...
, and a few grocery items, frozen dinners, as well as
soft drink
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink
A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common t ...
s,
bottled water
Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., well water, distilled water, mineral water, or spring water) packaged in plastic or glass water bottles. Bottled water may be carbonated or not. Sizes range from small single serving bottles to lar ...
, ready to eat sandwiches, and a wide selection of
snack food
A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home.
Traditionally, snacks are ...
s. They also serve
coffee
Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world.
Seeds of ...
, frozen beverages (Quick Freeze), and
sandwich
A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...
es. Some stores also serve milkshakes and frozen cappuccinos. Like most convenience stores, QuickChek sells
cigarettes
A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...
and other
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
products, along with lottery tickets. Most also sell fuel as well which has become the main draw to these stores.
QuickChek also has its own assortment of baked goods. Some of the baked goods are baked fresh in the store.
Readington, New Jersey
Readington Township is a township located in the easternmost portion of Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 16,126, reflecting an increase of 323 (+2.0%) from the 15,80 ...
, which runs the last weekend in July. An outdoor QuickChek is set up with an actual deli and coffee counter, and during the weekend, visitors are able to attend the various activities that go on through the festival. QuickChek's Balloon festival in 2011 featured many artists such as Meatloaf, Barenaked Ladies, and Abba in Concert.
References in pop culture
The New Jersey-based band,
The Bouncing Souls
The Bouncing Souls are an American punk band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, formed in 1989. By the time of their acknowledgment by the national punk rock scene, they had reignited a "pogo" element to New Jersey punk rock by playing fast light-h ...
, has a song written about a girl who worked in a QuickChek.
Another New Jersey-based band named
The Number Twelve Looks Like You
The Number Twelve Looks Like You is an American mathcore band, formed in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, in 2002. The band went on a six-year hiatus in 2010. In May 2016, they performed a secret show and then announced their reunion ...
mentions QuickChek coffee in their song "The Garden's All Nighters" from the album ''
Worse Than Alone
''Worse than Alone'' is the fourth studio album by The Number Twelve Looks Like You. It was released on March 10, 2009 through Eyeball Records.
Branchburg QuickChek incident
On January 26, 2010, a clerk at the QuickChek at 1296 Easton Turnpike in
Branchburg, New Jersey
Branchburg is a township in Somerset County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 14,459, reflecting a decline of 107 (−0.7%) from the 14,566 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased ...
called the police about a suspicious man in the store. The clerk said she knew the man "had something on him", but was uncertain what it was. Officers arrested
Lloyd Woodson
Lloyd R. Woodson (born January 31, 1966) is an American man whose arrest in central New Jersey on January 25, 2010, received national attention in the United States. Woodson was armed with a semi-automatic rifle and was wearing a ballistic vest a ...
, and found in his possession and in his motel room a large weapons cache that included illegal weapons and ammunition, a detailed map of
Fort Drum
Fort Drum is a U.S. Army military reservation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Jefferson County, on the northern border of New York, United States. The population of the CDP portion of the base was 12,955 at the 2010 census. It is home ...
, and a traditional red-and-white Middle Eastern headdress. He was charged on multiple state and federal weapons charges. Branchburg Police Chief Brian Fitzgerald later praised Quick Chek clerk Linda Yannazzno and employee Michael Murray for their alertness.
El Dorado, Arkansas
El Dorado, founded by Matthew Rainey, is a city in, and the county seat of, Union County, on the southern border of Arkansas, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 18,884.
El Dorado is headquarters of the Ark ...
, announced their purchase of QuickChek on December 14, 2020. The transaction was closed in January 2021.