KwikTrip building to become investment center

NEWS EDITOR

The former Kwik Trip location at the corner of Hwy 13 and Clark St. in Medford will be the new home to an Edward Jones Wealth Management Center.

The building, which has been vacant since the two Kwik Trips opened in the community in 2021, was recently purchased by Russ Jablonsky. His current Edward Jones office is located immediately to the west of the property.

Unlike traditional offices which focus on preparing individuals for their retirement, the Wealth Management Center has a focus more on planning and managing family wealth that is passed from generation to generation.

Jablonsky said it is a shift from making sure you have enough in your retirement to looking at wealth management beyond your lifetime. He said this has impacts on how children and grandchildren may choose to manage risk and financial planning.

The center will include advisors of different generations to work with clients in the long term. He compared it to running a relay race where racers pass a baton seamlessly from one to another. In this case, advisors can seamlessly pass working with a family over multiple generations allowing the creation of longterm plans.

Jablonsky, who has had an Edward Jones office in Medford for 28 years said there has been a definite shift in financial management. He said when he started the question people would ask us if they need to worry about running out of money. “That is not the most prevalent question anymore,” he said. Through sound investment strategies, he said people are growing their assets during retirement even as they are drawing income from them. He said this presents whole different opportunities that allow people to think beyond their retirements.

He said it opens the question for clients of “What would you like your assets to do after you are done with them?”

Jablonsky said he sees the need for multi-generational planning to get more prevalent going forward and said the new wealth management center would address those needs in the Medford community. He said they are preparing for future expansion of services and meeting the expansion of client’s needs.

When completed, the new center will house his current Edward Jones office as well as the Edward Jones office of his daughter, Courtney Kern, as well as offer room for additional expansion over time.

He said work will begin this fall to gut the interior of the former convenience store and redo the exterior.

“We don’t want it to look like an old Kwik Trip,” Jablonsky said of the remodeling and renovation project. He estimated it would take about a year for the design and construction work to take place.

“It is a great location,” Jablonsky said, noting its ease of access and the solid construction of the existing building. He explained that he has been looking at a location for a Wealth Management Center and looked into new construction, but the location and space was a major draw for the Kwik Trip building. He noted the building is larger than if they would have built one from scratch, but that there is room to grow into it.

He said by utilizing a vacant commercial property, they will not have to deal with issues such as rezoning or hurdles from the state.