This story has been updated. 

Editor’s note: The QuikTrip reopened this month. 

Many readers are wondering what’s going on with the QuikTrip gas station on Lawrenceville Highway near North DeKalb Mall.

The store temporarily closed on July 19, according to a sign posted near the parking lot. The parking lot is currently covered up with construction vehicles.

Theresa Same, the zoning chair for the Medlock Area Neighborhood Association, said the gas station is a corporate store and the company wants to expand it to offer more food options.

“They took it as an opportunity to improve the layout and things that weren’t working very well,” she said. Improving the layout includes relocating gas pumps and moving gas tanks away from houses.

As part of negotiations with the neighbors over the permits, QuikTrip agreed to install a new 10-foot wide sidewalk around the edge of the property, a new eight-foot wide multi-use sidewalk to Harrington Drive, a new painted crosswalk at both entrances and re-striping of Orion Drive as it leads up to the intersection, according to Same and the MANA website.

Same said the gas station will be closed for about four months. Michael Burk, a real estate project manager for QuikTrip, said, “We are excited that this project will soon be completed and set this store up for many more years at this gateway into Decatur.”

“This store was chosen for a remodel to refresh the appearance of the building and fuel canopy, and to resolve some of the design features of the former site,” Burk said. “The new site will feature the main façade of the building facing Orion Dr. with the fuel canopy located between the building and Orion Dr. This new layout will place the canopy and parking further from the neighborhood along Herrington Dr. The underground storage tanks are also being relocated to between the fuel canopy and Orion Dr. The new building prototype will have customer entrances on three sides of the building making the building even more convenient for customers.

‘These site changes together we feel will help the site be easier to navigate for our customers, be safer for our customers and employees and provide an overall better experience. Inside the new store, the most significant differences between the new store and the old store is a more open layout with larger bathrooms with the ability for QT to continue to expand our fresh food offerings. We are currently under construction and anticipate the store to be closed for approximately four months.”

Same wasn’t surprised about the amount of reader interest in what’s happening to the gas station.

“People do love that QuikTrip,” she said.

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