Hucks Food & Fuel opens its first of two convenience stores in Jackson at 1295 Union University Drive in Thomsen Farms, at 9 a.m., Tuesday.

Located behind First Citizens National Bank, the convenience store consists of 4,050-square-feet and will offer 16 fuel pumps.

In 1960, Bob Martin and Frank Bayley formed a partnership and began opening Big John supermarkets in small Southern Illinois towns, eventually branching out to Kentucky and Tennessee.

Their first convenience store opened in 1974 in Grayville, Illinois, and was named “HUCKS.”

With corporate offices in Carmi, Illinois, Hucks has grown to 120 convenience stores.

The Thomsen Farms location, which was approved for a beer permit to sell, store and distribute beer for consumption off the premises when the Jackson Beer Board met at the City Council Chambers, Friday, will have 30 employees.

The store will be open 24 hours each day, seven days a week.

Management said a second Hucks location at 7 Ridgecrest Rd. (corner of North Highland and Ridgecrest Road) is scheduled to open in January, 2018.

(PHOTO: Hucks 1295 Union University Drive, opens at 9 a.m., Tuesday)

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