So... What's the deal with this brand? From what I can see it was acquired by Couche-Tard at some point and seems to have some sort of ties to Circle K, but seems to be applied pretty much only to bottom-of-the-barrel (as in "not nice enough for 7-Eleven" level) stores. Today while my wife and I were wandering around Winston-Salem we searched for the nearest Circle K and ended up getting one of these on Cherry Road near Wake Forest University campus. Based on some looking on Google Maps it looks like this actually used to be a full fledged Circle K, but got converted into a Kangaroo Express some time between 2019 and 2021. There are a handful of Circle K branded items in the stores, and in fact there was a sign on the door for the "$1 Circle K branded snack item with drink purchase" promo that a lot of the Circle K locations here run, but the only actual Circle K branded items I could even find in the store were one size of Polar Pop cups (the small cups were Polar Pop, the medium and large were Thirst Buster) and some bottled water. The place was reasonably clean but looked like it had seen better days.
And then on Wendover Avenue in Greensboro there's one that seems rather odd indeed. Going back through the history in Google Maps, I can see that it's been through...
- May 2008: Kangaroo Express with Exxon branded gasoline
- May 2012 - August 2015: Still Kangaroo express, switched to Marathon fuel with an attached Dunkin Donuts
- May 2016 - September 2016: Still Kangaroo Express, Fuel brand changed to Mobil
- April 2017: Convenience store rebranded to Circle K, but signs show both Kangaroo Express and Circle K branding, fuel is still Mobil
- October 2018: Most signage has been switched to Circle K, but the tallest sign still shows both Kangaroo Express and Marathon branding (this was covered up by a Mobil banner at some point which presumably fell down)
- April 2019 - August 2022: Fully branded as a Circle K with Mobil fuel, but some time in 2020 the Dunkin Donuts closed
- February 2023: Mobil fuel replaced with Circle K, the former Dunkin Donuts space got taken over by some random Senegalese restaurant
Similarly, I see several other Circle K locations in Greensboro that appear to have been converted from Kangaroo Express (generally going from unbranded fuel to Mobil or Exxon, then later to Circle K brand) ) but it seems rare for Circle K locations to be converted to Kangaroo Express, and the ones that are seem to generally be pretty bad.
Kangaroo Express
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Re: Kangaroo Express
Kangaroo Express brand was "retired" but started to reappear the past couple years.
There is something where Circle K will sell a block of previously corporate operated Circle K locations to franchisees and the locations will for some reason be rebranded to Kangaroo Express. They did this in some other market, perhaps LA, and most of the locations appeared to be long time Circle K's that were former 1970's 7-Elevens so not very nice stores.
Also Circle K seems to be selling Kangaroo Express franchises to random convenience stores that are either in close proximity to a Circle K or maybe some other reason I am not sure of why they are using the Kangaroo Express name. These stores do not get merchandised to Circle K specs and other than those soda cups that say Thirstbuster and a coffee program, I am not even sure what the point of the branding is.
Kangaroo Express uses Thirstbuster (the old Circle K soda brand before Couche Tard took it over) for drinks.
A few Kangaroo Express units appeared in CA under this program but they seem to have rebranded to Circle K or debranded. One was in Temecula at 30515 Temecula Parkway which was actually built brand new in 2019 and the store opened brand new as Kangaroo Express (first I learned of this odd program) and has debranded from Kangaroo and is now some generic c-store again. This was a nice new station and had a long-time franchise/dealer Circle K across the street.
Kangaroo Express previouly was nowhere near the west coast. I think Kansas was as close as they got and technically the Kansas units never had Kangaroo Express branding but were branded "Presto" then everything inside was Kangaroo as Kangaroo was going bankrupt/out of business before they could rebrand that block of very poor quality stores in Kansas.
There is something where Circle K will sell a block of previously corporate operated Circle K locations to franchisees and the locations will for some reason be rebranded to Kangaroo Express. They did this in some other market, perhaps LA, and most of the locations appeared to be long time Circle K's that were former 1970's 7-Elevens so not very nice stores.
Also Circle K seems to be selling Kangaroo Express franchises to random convenience stores that are either in close proximity to a Circle K or maybe some other reason I am not sure of why they are using the Kangaroo Express name. These stores do not get merchandised to Circle K specs and other than those soda cups that say Thirstbuster and a coffee program, I am not even sure what the point of the branding is.
Kangaroo Express uses Thirstbuster (the old Circle K soda brand before Couche Tard took it over) for drinks.
A few Kangaroo Express units appeared in CA under this program but they seem to have rebranded to Circle K or debranded. One was in Temecula at 30515 Temecula Parkway which was actually built brand new in 2019 and the store opened brand new as Kangaroo Express (first I learned of this odd program) and has debranded from Kangaroo and is now some generic c-store again. This was a nice new station and had a long-time franchise/dealer Circle K across the street.
Kangaroo Express previouly was nowhere near the west coast. I think Kansas was as close as they got and technically the Kansas units never had Kangaroo Express branding but were branded "Presto" then everything inside was Kangaroo as Kangaroo was going bankrupt/out of business before they could rebrand that block of very poor quality stores in Kansas.