Sooper Stop Named Stutsman County Best Gas Station

Sooper Stop in Jamestown was voted Best Gas Station and Convenience Store in the Best of the Best contest held December 20, 2025. The win reflects rapid community acceptance of the new store at 811 13th Street NE, which opened in December 2024, is almost 7,500 square feet and is more than twice the size of the old building.

Manager Sara Iverson said, “It’s nice to know that the community enjoys the new store and everything it has inside.” The store is owned by Creative Energy Inc., whose chief financial officer Amber Backen highlighted staff efforts and product variety. Backen said employees do a “fantastic job” of keeping the store clean and stocked, and she added, “Kudos to Sara and her team for making it a place that the community wants to stop and come into.” M&H Gas placed second and Casey's placed third in the contest.

Sooper Stop has widened the local retail offering with candy, snacks, soft drinks, coffee, cappuccino, propane, tobacco products, fishing tackle and bait, and local sports apparel. The deli sells hot items such as Hunt Brothers Pizza, Johnsonville hot dogs, Tornados, burgers, chicken sandwiches and chili. Caffeinated Prairie operates inside the store and offers a full coffee shop menu, a signature lotus energy drink, and an ice cream machine preserved from the old Polar King location. Backen said the store carries North Dakota and Midwest based items and that staff take pride in keeping products local. Iverson said, “Our front facing, like I said, was all Pride of Dakota, keeping it in the community, local.”

The new building emphasizes accessibility and winter readiness, with features that include shorter sinks and a countertop space for customers in wheelchairs, heated flooring inside, heated sidewalks outside, and a drive thru window for Caffeinated Prairie that will open soon. Construction began in May 2024 after the old store was demolished. Sooper Stop is open daily from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The deli closes at 7 p.m. Caffeinated Prairie hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Backen said the chain planned an online app for food orders by the end of the year and a loyalty program in the first quarter of 2026, tools that could increase repeat traffic and shift consumer spending patterns in Stutsman County. For a small regional market, the combination of larger floor space, local sourcing, and new digital ordering could concentrate more convenience and food spending under one roof, affecting competitors and offering residents faster access to a broader range of goods and services.