Officials with Dillon Stores are confident Lawrence shoppers are ready to add gasoline to their weekly grocery lists.

Construction work has begun on a project to add 10 gasoline pumps to the parking lot of the Dillons store at Sixth Street and Lawrence Avenue. Dennis Gaschler, a spokesman for the Hutchinson-based grocer, said the company hopes to be selling gasoline at the store by mid-to-late August.

Construction is under way for new gasoline pumps at Dillons, 3000 W. Sixth St. The new pumps, which will be located in the southwest corner of the current parking lot, are expected to open by mid-to-late August.

“We think it makes a lot of sense because purchasing gasoline and purchasing groceries are the most frequent errands people make every week,” Gaschler said. “This is a way we can make it easier to do both by making it available at a one-stop location.”

The project will be different than the project that built a Kwik Shop gas and convenience store in the parking lot of the Dillons store near Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. This project won’t involve a Kwik Shop, which is owned by the parent company of Dillon Stores, but rather the gas service will be sold under the Dillons brand name.

“It will just be a part of Dillons and what we do,” Gaschler said. “It will just be an extension of the store.”

The project also won’t involve a full-scale convenience store. Instead it will have only a kiosk that sells items such as lottery tickets, cigarettes and snack foods.

The kiosk will be staffed from about 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., but the pumps will offer 24-hour fueling capabilities.

Gaschler said the company decided to build the project after studying traffic volume numbers along West Sixth Street and determining that the store could eliminate about 60 parking spaces without causing problems for its customers.

The gas pumps will be located in the southwest portion of the store’s parking lot, which will put the pumps near the Sixth Street and Lawrence Avenue intersection.

Gaschler also thinks it will be able to compete in the Lawrence fuel market. He said Dillons ought to have an advantage because it will offer discounts to customers who use their Dillons Plus Shopper Card. Customers who have a shopper card can scan it in at the pump to receive discounts ranging from 2 cents to 6 cents per gallon, depending on which grade of gasoline is purchased. The company offers similar discounts at its Kwik Shop locations.

The project marks the first time Dillons has added gasoline service to one of its Lawrence stores, but it is the 18th time it has done it in the state.

Gaschler called the project part of a growing trend. He said grocers have been entering the gasoline market, and it has been helpful in driving customers to their stores.

“It gives us something other stores don’t have,” Gaschler said. “And it just seems to make a lot of sense because convenience is what it’s all about for the consumer these days.”

Roadwork has already started in the area. Dillons has hired a construction crew to build a left turn lane on Lawrence Avenue to improve access to the project. The city also has plans within the next two weeks to repave Lawrence Avenue between Sixth Street and Princeton Boulevard.