Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

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Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by SamSpade »

Hi,
I thought I'd give a platform for folks to discuss various operators and experiences.

I am unfortunately in the Pacific Northwest so we have really boring operators for these stores... so much that I almost always bypass them if I'm in the car for a mainstream grocer or discounter. (but not druggist, lol)

Locally we have:
1) 7-Eleven: Virtually none with fuel, and Seven and I ticked off the locals they managed to dump franchises onto by opening their own O&O stores nearby (ie. St. Johns neighborhood, Portland). There are locations with unbranded fuel in Vancouver, Wash. and near the Portland airport. One of them is even part of a Port of Portland development adjacent to the airport (last gas/cell phone waiting area).

2) Independent operators: several corner stores or "markets" still exist, mostly in older Portland neighborhoods but there are also off-brand gas operators in the suburbs that also run mini markets.

3) AM/PM: their locations here vary from old and kind of icky, to "California/Arizona" floor plan complete with the ceramic tile accent. All are open 24/7. ARCO also has some other franchisees in the area that operate smaller ARCO branded stores that are not AM/PM mini-marts. They do run TV and radio ads around here periodically, I've seen and heard "TooMGiS."

4) Plaid Pantry: Marketing themselves as the 'corner store' and based in Beaverton, OR. They used to be especially ugly with orange and white floor tiles and other bright colors, I suppose to discourage loitering. Now they have improved many locations to a blue, yellow, and red wall palate to match their logo. They also have some clever new wall decorations that kind of keep with the quirky Portland image this city's cultivated. No gas except for maybe a random station or two, I believe mainly in Washington state. They have made some positive changes to protect both their employees and customers during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also well known for inexpensive fountain sodas, including this summer 79c medium cups. They use Pepsi products on a small fountain.

5) Jacksons/ExtraMile: Jacksons has clean, comfortable Shell stations for the most part. They have also in a few cases closed and rebuilt or majorly renovated spaces. A few are larger, on the same size of a Maverik station like you might find in the Intermountain West where they compete. These also have additional amenities.

Chevron ExtraMile stores are modestly sized but usually clean, sell some fresh foods, and provide a public restroom. Most are not 24/7 operations. Recently, coffee was rebranded and changed from Seattle's Best to Mile One Coffee.

6) 76, previously Circle K, but now all branded My Goods Market: Not much to say here, vary from location to location.

7) Speedway/Mobil branded stations: borderline disaster zones, lots of previous discussion on this thread about this.

8) Regional oil distributors using a mix of their own brands and major ones: Astro, Space Age

Hm... guess there are more brands here than I realized. I must say though that I wish we had Maverik, QT, Wawa or someone that carried a little bit of fresh produce (7-Eleven at least has bananas, oranges, icky red apples) alongside the standard "junk" mini marts have sold for years (beer/wine, cigs, soda, chips, candy, oil, ice cream, frozen pizza).
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by storewanderer »

The Pacific Northwest has a small number of corporate operated Circle Ks (not franchises) run by Couche Tard and also a few Holiday stations are present in Spokane (Maverik is in Spokane too).

The two in Kent and ones around Salem are the sites that Conoco did not take back (those sites Conoco took back, are mostly now My Goods Markets) when they "split off" some retail sites to retain when they sold off Circle K.

These are not the nicest sites, but if you can get past that they do have a good mix of products available. I suggest prepackaged products from these locations.

10255 SE 240TH ST Kent **appears to have been sold sometime in the past year or two to 7-Eleven but still on Circle K website??
20727 108TH AVE SE Kent **sold to 7-Eleven?
296 E. 13th Eugene **sold to 7-Eleven?
2002 Lancaster Dr NE Salem **sold to 7-Eleven?
382 E Washington St, Stayton, OR in Google Street View has a Circle K sign but then a promo sign in the window for Big Gulp?
(appears the other locations around Salem also got sold to 7-Eleven)

There is a large base of corporate operated Circle Ks around Pasco/Kennewick. They bought some operator out in that market over a decade ago. Those still have Exxon fuel as the old operator used Exxon and Circle K has built some stores of its own. This seems like a real island for them given the lack of corporate operates stores elsewhere in the NW.

Also a couple franchise ones hanging on with 76 fuel around Seattle:
26821 MAPLE VALLEY BLACK DIAMOND RD SE Maple Valley
3727 FACTORIA BLVD SE Bellevue
20409 AURORA AVE N Shoreline - This is a My Goods (United Pacific) site- odd it is still Circle K

There are also a lot of franchise Circle Ks down in Southern Oregon along the coast, Medford, Klamath Falls, etc.

Jacksons has very limited produce in some locations. Once in a while it makes economic sense to buy apples or oranges there, if they have big ones, prices in normal stores are high, and they are at 2 for $1 or 2 for $1.29.
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by cjd »

Here in my area of Florida:

Marathon: These are all former BP stations/convenience stores. These range from older 1980s builds all the way up until the last BP stations built in the late 2000s which were only a few years old when Marathon acquired them.

Speedway is rare in my area. I do know of one in the next county, it was a former Hess station.

Racetrac/Raceway: These are newer stations, and some of the nicest stations around. Certainly one of the biggest as far as the c-store size. They also have the most gas pumps.

Circle K: These sell Shell gasoline and have a pretty good c-store. Clean stores and generally pretty good. Very common in my area.

Sunoco: Very few of these, mostly independent run convenience stores. I'll use them in a pinch, nothing wrong with them, it's just their prices are always higher than other places.

Murphy: Your typical adjacent to Walmart gas station. Not much of a c-store here, just a booth with a few drink coolers and oil bottles outside. These are always busy because of the lower prices compared to other stations.

Gate Petroleum: A smaller FL based chain. These stations have good prices, lots of pumps, and a good sized and clean C-store. Not as modern or fancy as the Racetrac stations, but still quite nice.

Express: This is a former Albertsons gas station that was converted after the sale of Albertsons to Publix around 2009. It sells Citgo gasoline. The Express branding and signage is all left over from the Albertsons days - they only removed the Albertsons sign and put a Citgo sign in its place.

Exxon-Mobil: Only one in this area. I'll use it if it's not busy and the price is the same as Circle K/Shell across the street. This was originally one of those 1980s Shell Farm Store convenience locations originally, which were always dirty and smelly in the 90s from my recollection. Later it became a Citgo and was absolutely filthy from what I heard, and I refused to even buy gas there. It closed down, and about 5 years ago got a huge remodel and new tanks, pumps, etc and reopened as Exxon.

Forgot to mention Love My Car Wash: This gigantic place has an automatic car wash, and about 20 gas pumps. There's also a huge convenience store there which also has a small restaurant inside. It was built in the late 2000s. I've never been to it but it looks really high end.
Last edited by cjd on August 9th, 2020, 5:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by pseudo3d »

The c-stores around me include:

Stripes - Basically a 7-Eleven in all but name, but due to their newer and larger stores, shopping is always fun. With a few exceptions, paired with Sunoco.

Circle K - Not too many Circle K stores around, and all are former Corner Stores, but they run decent stores. The ones that used to be Corner Stores have like eight "Froster" (ICEE) flavors, including banana, which (previously) I had not seen in about two decades. Paired with Valero.

Max Express - A local operation with some really inconsistent stores. One of them is a large flagship store with a bakery and a hamburger counter, one of them is a poorly merchandised generic convenience store. Usually paired with Shell, but not always.

Zip'N - Another local operation, though it seems Zip'N is even more inconsistent, one of them outright advertises as a different convenience store (one has "Lucky Food Mart" underneath a banner), and one of them filled their backrooms with imported Indian food. Usually paired with Shell or Citgo.

Rattlers - Former independent operation bought by Stripes. Used to be nice but some of them are getting kind of grimy. Usually paired with Shell, though some of them got turned into Sunoco.

Gas retailers in general:
Texaco - Texaco had some nice stores built and being built before they got converted to Shell in 2003 (and those Shell stores that still remain are obviously showing their age by this point). Texaco returned by rebranding a few Diamond Shamrock stores (which used to be original Circle K stores). These stores have gone separate ways and I think there's only one Texaco left at this point.

Chevron - Usually runs solid, if unbranded, neighborhood operations. Most of the older ones have gotten purged, and today tend to locate on smaller roads and corridors (not major thoroughfares).

Citgo - Usually operate very old 7-Eleven stores that were spun off to E-Z Mart in the early 1990s (and those have since gone to other operators, too). They are almost universally lousy, outdated stores.

Summit - The "bottom end" retailer, expanded in the mid-2000s by taking the Shell stores that didn't upgrade, but many of those stores have also gone under. In fact, I'm not sure if they even still exist in the area anymore.

The grocery store operators - Walmart, H-E-B, Kroger. Kroger even has a full C-store operation (and branded as Kroger, too) it took over from Exxon.

Exxon - Another common retailer, but the stores are hit and miss. Most of them are late 1990s builds without brand names and are sketchy, grimy places today.

Shell - Most of the pre-2003 Shell stations were in rural areas or older stores, but the 2003 takeover from Texaco gave them a lot of larger stores and a few brand-new ones. Since then, new-build Shell stores have gotten really rare.

Valero - A few of them are without accompanying Circle K stores, but most of them appeared after the Diamond Shamrock rebrands. One of them was taken over from an Exxon, and another from a Chevron (these are/were not Corner Store sites).
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by mbz321 »

Here's what is in my neck of the woods (Philly region)..I've listed them in market share, solely based on my observations.

Most dominant: Wawa. High volume locations, fresh food, relatively clean, most locations have at least 12 gas pumps. With a few exceptions, they are all 24 hours. There are still several older, non-gas stores operating in areas where they can't/haven't found a good relocation opportunity. Some have been remodeled heavily, some haven't (a likely indication they are eyeing a replacement in the future).

Next: 7-11. Besides some touchups here and there, most of these franchised locations are from the 1970's and 1980's and are drab and rundown. A small handful have gas pumps, but aren't large enough to really do any high volumes of business. Many have closed over the last 5-10 years, and I can't see how many of these will survive depending on what happens with Sunoco/Speedway, which I'll get to in a moment.

Then there is Sunoco, which is a Hodge podge of franchised and corporate (now 7-11) owned locations. The corporate ones have 'APlus' branded mini markets, although a few of the mini marts have converted to 7-11 (like locations on the PA Turnpike) APlus came about from when Sunoco acquired Atlantic Petroleum (once part of Arco) stations in the Northeast in the 80's, although the Atlantic brand stuck around until the early 90's. Their convenience stores aren't/weren't anything special, on par with 7-11 Overall, most are generally well kept and priced competitively.

Next comes Lukoil, a Russian oil company. Pretty much all Lukoil's are former Mobil stations that were divested as a result of the ExxonMobil merger. A few were also Getty stations which Lukoil later acquired (the Getty brand has since been mothballed with the remaining stations closing/converting to other brands in the last 5 or so years). Most haven't been touched since the early 2000's. Marketing is minimal. Mini marts are mostly small with your usual gas station fare. a few of the better ones have a Dunkin Donuts inside. Some also have repair bays leased by independent mechanics. Prices generally range from 'meh' to atrocious. That beings said, many have closed down over the years....seemingly right after a new Wawa opens.

And there is Speedway. AFAIK, all sites are former Hess stations. Some have larger mini marts, others are just kiosks. Most of the stations seem to be tiny and cramped and are just kind of 'there'. Prices are generally on-par with Wawa/Sunoco.

Then not really a convenience store, but Giant (Ahold) grocery stores have a pretty big fuel network supported by their in-store gas rewards program. With the exception of a few (and abandoned larger convenience store concept), the stations are just payment kiosks selling some soda and automotive accessories (Ahold stopped selling tobacco in its stores last year).

Then there are the 'others'.
Gulf has a bunch of varying stations..most are just mechanics that also happen to sell gas. A lot of Getty stations converted to Gulf. Old equipment, generally high prices, but there some others that are slightly more modern and competitive. A few of them are sites that were divested when Cumberland Farms sold their PA/NJ operations a few years back. The mini-marts are branded Circle K. (The only presence of Circle K in this region. Before Lukoil, some of the Mobil stations were co-branded with Circle K/K Express marts, but that didn't last long).

Royal Farms has been creeping into the area, with a 'meh' reputation. I don't know if they are going to make it. I've read many poor reviews of their 'famous' fried chicken (the main thing that sets them and Wawa apart, along with some other diverse menu options). Gas prices don't seem to be that competitive.

There's handfuls of Shell (mostly former Texaco stations when the brand stopped being used in the mid 2000's) and Exxon stations, most being less-than-stellar . There are even a few Mobil branded stations that have somehow made a reappearance. BP is pretty much gone from the area except for a few locations. Most have converted to newcoming brands being marketed to this area (Conoco, 76), went independent, or closed entirely. They once had a very strong presence in this area is Amoco. There are a lot of indie stations too (usually using generic names like U.S. Gas and such, most are full service stations (and many seem to be former Coastal locations) Then you have the other non traditional ones like Costco, Sam's, BJ's. and Weis markets...phew, I think I hit them all!
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by kr.abs.swy »

7-Eleven struck some kind of a deal to take over at least some of the Circle Ks in Oregon over the past 18 months. In the mid-Willamette, there are no Circle Ks left near me. 7-Eleven did decent remodels to the interiors, but generally very little to the outsides, from what I have seen.

I have also noticed an outfit called Towne Pump has taken over a few additional mid-Willamette gas stations. This is not the Town Pump operation in Montana. These are almost always older gas stations that are in need of some serious upgrades. As far as I can tell, the only brand standard that Towne Pump holds these stations to is "are the pumps able to dispense gas." Generally speaking, I gladly pay an extra 10 cents per gallon to avoid these locations. It's just not worth it.

I have been surprised with the Jackson's - ExtraMile integration. The ExtraMile store near me (a former Jackson's) still sells quite a bit of Jackson's store-brand goods (some Extra Mile stuff also) and really still seems to run as a Jackson's (I even saw a Jackson's Operations Manual behind the counter recently).

The Jackson's - Chevron alliance never made perfect sense to me. In Boise, it involved taking down a well-known local brand from some locations and replacing it with ExtraMile, which was unknown in Boise, while continuing to operate the Jackson's brand on Shell stations. In Boise, there seemed to be more Jackson's Chevron locations, but still were a lot of Jackson's Shell locations. I've also seen an ExtraMile location near downtown San Jose that had only a really small c-store and which is not consistent, from a branding perspective, with what they are doing on newer stores. In the big picture, it may not matter that much -- these are c-stores and as long as they sell gas, coffee, candy bars and cigarettes, the customers are happy, whether the sign says Jackson's or ExtraMile. As long as Towne Pump of Oregon doesn't take over ...

storewanderer wrote: August 3rd, 2020, 10:45 pm The Pacific Northwest has a small number of corporate operated Circle Ks (not franchises) run by Couche Tard and also a few Holiday stations are present in Spokane (Maverik is in Spokane too).

The two in Kent and ones around Salem are the sites that Conoco did not take back (those sites Conoco took back, are mostly now My Goods Markets) when they "split off" some retail sites to retain when they sold off Circle K.

These are not the nicest sites, but if you can get past that they do have a good mix of products available. I suggest prepackaged products from these locations.

10255 SE 240TH ST Kent **appears to have been sold sometime in the past year or two to 7-Eleven but still on Circle K website??
20727 108TH AVE SE Kent **sold to 7-Eleven?
296 E. 13th Eugene **sold to 7-Eleven?
2002 Lancaster Dr NE Salem **sold to 7-Eleven?
382 E Washington St, Stayton, OR in Google Street View has a Circle K sign but then a promo sign in the window for Big Gulp?
(appears the other locations around Salem also got sold to 7-Eleven)

There is a large base of corporate operated Circle Ks around Pasco/Kennewick. They bought some operator out in that market over a decade ago. Those still have Exxon fuel as the old operator used Exxon and Circle K has built some stores of its own. This seems like a real island for them given the lack of corporate operates stores elsewhere in the NW.

Also a couple franchise ones hanging on with 76 fuel around Seattle:
26821 MAPLE VALLEY BLACK DIAMOND RD SE Maple Valley
3727 FACTORIA BLVD SE Bellevue
20409 AURORA AVE N Shoreline - This is a My Goods (United Pacific) site- odd it is still Circle K

There are also a lot of franchise Circle Ks down in Southern Oregon along the coast, Medford, Klamath Falls, etc.

Jacksons has very limited produce in some locations. Once in a while it makes economic sense to buy apples or oranges there, if they have big ones, prices in normal stores are high, and they are at 2 for $1 or 2 for $1.29.
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by storewanderer »

kr.abs.swy wrote: August 15th, 2020, 11:50 am
I have also noticed an outfit called Towne Pump has taken over a few additional mid-Willamette gas stations. This is not the Town Pump operation in Montana. These are almost always older gas stations that are in need of some serious upgrades. As far as I can tell, the only brand standard that Towne Pump holds these stations to is "are the pumps able to dispense gas." Generally speaking, I gladly pay an extra 10 cents per gallon to avoid these locations. It's just not worth it.

I have been surprised with the Jackson's - ExtraMile integration. The ExtraMile store near me (a former Jackson's) still sells quite a bit of Jackson's store-brand goods (some Extra Mile stuff also) and really still seems to run as a Jackson's (I even saw a Jackson's Operations Manual behind the counter recently).
There has been a Towne Pump in Klamath Falls for a while. It has a c-store but I don't think the c-store is actually even affiliated with the gas operation at all. Usually on the lower end of the pricing scale but seems to do the job. Last visit it had some newer gas pumps. I think it still wasn't taking American Express but took other cards.

The most recent Jacksons/Extra Mile conversion over in Sparks (this seems to be a very slow process- there are still a few that have not converted around here) has a big JACKSONS decal in the window which wasn't there before. They are also consistently marketing these stores as "Extra Mile by Jacksons" now.

Chevron required Jackson to put that Extra Mile brand on its stores in order to go through with the joint venture. These stores are still Jacksons Stores and nothing like the CA Extra Mile locations save for the logo on the building. In my area they actually seem to be switching back to Jacksons cups for fountain/coffee. This isn't a bad thing- Jacksons is a much better c-store concept than the CA Extra Mile concept is. CA Extra Mile isn't bad, but as you point out they are inconsistent with some very small stores and some franchise operations that do not execute the programs consistently and jerk you around (widely inconsistent pricing, inconsistent mix, minimum purchases to use a card, fees to use a card, etc.). Jacksons has a better mix in every category, better promotions, a streamlined operation, and is just a better experience than the CA Extra Miles.
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by wnetmacman »

In southern Louisiana, we have few choices:

Circle K comes in four flavors:
1. The original stores, pre-buyouts. Most of these were built in the early 80's-early 90's. They have limited fuel and inside the store is equally as limited. Some are Shell, most are unbranded.
2. The former Corner Stores. They got quite a few of these, and we even have one that hasn't been fully assimilated into the flock yet; they've left the Valero signage up and have only mildly adjusted the mix. Never mind that there are several stores within 2 miles. All except this one have been generically branded gas.
3. Former Kangaroo stores. These are mostly along the I-20 corridor and I-12 east of Baton Rouge. They have multiple brands of gas, and are usually nicer stores.
4. The former Cracker Barrel of Louisiana stores. Cracker Barrel operated C-Stores in Louisiana before the restaurant chain of the same name existed, so both names stayed. CBLA operated stores roughly across the I-10/I-12 corridor, and down US90 to Houma. Many of these were co-branded with either Subway or Church's Chicken, which currently remain. They are larger stores in most cases, with several less than 5 years old. Most have Shell gas, though a few were unbranded at the acquisition.

Stripes operates three stores in Louisiana; one in Lake Charles and two in Lafayette. They are, as pseudo3d mentioned above, 7-Eleven in all but name. All three have the old Laredo Taco co-branded food; the two in Lafayette are very limited hours. All sell Sunoco gas here.

Racetrac has been expanding along I-10 heavily with their namesake stores; Lafayette had 3 when I moved here in 2000; there are 7 now. Baton Rouge has a large number of these as well. All are modern stores with fresh food and baked items, plus massive numbers of pumps with their own branded fuel.

Murphy has been rebuilding Walmart gas stations, as well as planting standalone stations around the state. The standalone stores are fairly nice, but with limited food offerings; the Walmart-based stores are smaller versions of these. All operate massive numbers of pumps at their respective locations.

A local operator of note is Shop Rite out of Crowley, LA. They started with one store in 1962, and now operate around 60 stores under two names: Shop Rite and Tobacco Plus. Several locations have both brands combined. They market primarily Exxon, but also have several Chevron locations. They have two food concepts: Bourbon Street Deli and Rascal's; both are pretty good, though Rascal's has a larger menu. They have one combo location with Rascal's and one combo with Bourbon Street.
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by kr.abs.swy »

I noticed today in the local ExtraMile/Jackson's that almost all of the store-brand goods are back to Jackson's. This is a store in Oregon. For a while they seemed to be trying reasonably hard to transition everything from Jackson's to ExtraMile. Today the only ExtraMile-brand goods I saw were mugs and bottles of water. There were dozens of Jackson's brand SKUs (candies, packaged pastries, antifreeze, coffee, etc.).

I still don't understand why they wanted to create a second brand in Boise where the Jackson's name is well known and dominates the market. From a marketing standpoint, it doesn't make sense to me. Just as an example, they bought naming rights for the basketball arena at Boise State, which is now called ExtraMile Arena. They are spending millions that do absolutely nothing to build brand awareness for the dozens of Jackson's Shell stores in the area. They have introduced a new brand into some new geographies where it just doesn't have any meaning. The alliance probably made some sense in California. I don't think it did in Idaho.
kr.abs.swy wrote: August 15th, 2020, 11:50 am 7-Eleven struck some kind of a deal to take over at least some of the Circle Ks in Oregon over the past 18 months. In the mid-Willamette, there are no Circle Ks left near me. 7-Eleven did decent remodels to the interiors, but generally very little to the outsides, from what I have seen.

I have also noticed an outfit called Towne Pump has taken over a few additional mid-Willamette gas stations. This is not the Town Pump operation in Montana. These are almost always older gas stations that are in need of some serious upgrades. As far as I can tell, the only brand standard that Towne Pump holds these stations to is "are the pumps able to dispense gas." Generally speaking, I gladly pay an extra 10 cents per gallon to avoid these locations. It's just not worth it.

I have been surprised with the Jackson's - ExtraMile integration. The ExtraMile store near me (a former Jackson's) still sells quite a bit of Jackson's store-brand goods (some Extra Mile stuff also) and really still seems to run as a Jackson's (I even saw a Jackson's Operations Manual behind the counter recently).

The Jackson's - Chevron alliance never made perfect sense to me. In Boise, it involved taking down a well-known local brand from some locations and replacing it with ExtraMile, which was unknown in Boise, while continuing to operate the Jackson's brand on Shell stations. In Boise, there seemed to be more Jackson's Chevron locations, but still were a lot of Jackson's Shell locations. I've also seen an ExtraMile location near downtown San Jose that had only a really small c-store and which is not consistent, from a branding perspective, with what they are doing on newer stores. In the big picture, it may not matter that much -- these are c-stores and as long as they sell gas, coffee, candy bars and cigarettes, the customers are happy, whether the sign says Jackson's or ExtraMile. As long as Towne Pump of Oregon doesn't take over ...

storewanderer wrote: August 3rd, 2020, 10:45 pm The Pacific Northwest has a small number of corporate operated Circle Ks (not franchises) run by Couche Tard and also a few Holiday stations are present in Spokane (Maverik is in Spokane too).

The two in Kent and ones around Salem are the sites that Conoco did not take back (those sites Conoco took back, are mostly now My Goods Markets) when they "split off" some retail sites to retain when they sold off Circle K.

These are not the nicest sites, but if you can get past that they do have a good mix of products available. I suggest prepackaged products from these locations.

10255 SE 240TH ST Kent **appears to have been sold sometime in the past year or two to 7-Eleven but still on Circle K website??
20727 108TH AVE SE Kent **sold to 7-Eleven?
296 E. 13th Eugene **sold to 7-Eleven?
2002 Lancaster Dr NE Salem **sold to 7-Eleven?
382 E Washington St, Stayton, OR in Google Street View has a Circle K sign but then a promo sign in the window for Big Gulp?
(appears the other locations around Salem also got sold to 7-Eleven)

There is a large base of corporate operated Circle Ks around Pasco/Kennewick. They bought some operator out in that market over a decade ago. Those still have Exxon fuel as the old operator used Exxon and Circle K has built some stores of its own. This seems like a real island for them given the lack of corporate operates stores elsewhere in the NW.

Also a couple franchise ones hanging on with 76 fuel around Seattle:
26821 MAPLE VALLEY BLACK DIAMOND RD SE Maple Valley
3727 FACTORIA BLVD SE Bellevue
20409 AURORA AVE N Shoreline - This is a My Goods (United Pacific) site- odd it is still Circle K

There are also a lot of franchise Circle Ks down in Southern Oregon along the coast, Medford, Klamath Falls, etc.

Jacksons has very limited produce in some locations. Once in a while it makes economic sense to buy apples or oranges there, if they have big ones, prices in normal stores are high, and they are at 2 for $1 or 2 for $1.29.
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Re: Discussion: Convenience stores / gasoline retailers

Post by Alpha8472 »

Customers are loyal to well known local brand names. When big corporations try to get rid of a trusted local brand, they lose customers. It is time that the big corporations realize that local brands can coexist and still bring in lots of sales.

The sports venue renaming was a mistake. Perhaps a dual brand of Jackson's Extra Mile could be a compromise.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on April 25th, 2021, 11:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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