"is there really much customer loyalty to a kwik-trip?"
Without fear or favor and batting an eye.....YES!. They have built with their sensitivity emphasis to building that customer base. Look at the script programs that return 5% back to the non profits who use them..our church raises 50-60k per year using the program which about 75% of it is gas. So those churches/non profits have incentive to be using KT cards which can be used for gas and store purchases. So they create the start of loyalty...then they have their focus on the customer experience once they enter the store. The employees meet greet and please and thank you's even if it was for just coming in. Then they have established great value in in the most popular items purchased with frequency in their stores on a daily basis. So yes they have a strong loyalty because their script card business alone exceeds 1 bil per year. That's huge and then the give back of 5% to these organizations is no small insignificant amount in the communities they serve.
"and that's why they can charge way more than your local grocer or Walmart?"
The 3 biggest internal items they sell that serve the immediate and family needs by volume is Banana's ,bakery, Coffee, Milk. Try doing a price comparative and I can promise you they are cheaper on these leading products . They aren't in the business to compete with the Walmarts...they do however want their instore purchasing to be targets on need and never to supplement the big grocery store family purchasing. They know their niche and these guys are one of the best.
My guess is you really need to study their business model and niche a bit better to know peoples buying habits. They do fewer things than a mass grocer VERY WELL.
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