Circle K

Overview

Some Circle K stores operate gasoline pumps selling Union 76 branded motor fuels, others sell Mobil or Marathon branded fuel. The chain operates internationally, branching into other continents such as Asia. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, the store is called OK in reference to the circle around the K. Circle K was previously in Canada and New Zealand as the food store portions of many Shell stations.

The chain is primarilly located in the Southern, Western and Southwestern U.S., and within the past couple of years expanded into the Midwest when the Circle K name replaced the Couche-Tard brands in the U.S. (Mac's, Bigfoot, Dairy Mart, and Handy Andy). Despite not being located in the Northern Great Plains states and the Northeast (except for western Pennsylvania), Circle K is second to 7-Eleven in the U.S. by store count.

History

Entrepreneur Fred Hervey purchased three Kay’s Food Stores in El Paso, Texas in 1951. Hervey renamed the stores Circle K. He grew the Circle K chain into neighboring New Mexico and Arizona, which has been the company’s home base since 1957 (Hervey would go on to serve two terms as mayor of El Paso).

According to the Circle K website, Circle K grew its retail network through a series of acquisitions conducted during the next few decades, which were incorporated into the Circle K brand. By 1975, there were 1,000 Circle K stores across the US. In 1979, Circle K entered the international market when a licensing agreement established the first Circle K stores in Japan. In 1983, the number of stores increased to 2,180 with the purchase of the 960-store UtoteM chain.

The Thirst Buster® fountain drink was introduced in 1983. It is one of Circle K's flagship products today.

Karl Eller, a prominent Phoenix businessman, served as the company's CEO from 1983-1990. During that time, Eller built Circle K into the second largest convenience store operation and the largest publicly owned convenience store chain in the U.S. with over 4,600 stores in 32 states and an additional 1,300 or so licensed or joint venture stores in 13 foreign countries. Under Eller's leadership, the company grew from annual sales of $747 million to over $3 billion.

Fortunes declined in the late 1980's as the US economy began to slow down, and Circle K filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May of 1990; Eller resigned as CEO. Some underperforming locations were sold or closed. In 1993 the company was purchased by Investcorp, an international investment group, and emerged from bankruptcy.

Circle K was acquired by Tosco Corporation, an independent petroleum refiner and marketer, in 1996, but kept its headquarters in Phoenix. Tosco was purchased in 2001 by Phillips Petroleum, which in 2002 merged with Conoco to form ConocoPhillips. In 2003 Circle K was purchased by Alimentation Couche-Tard (a large conveniece store operator based in the Montreal area) for US$804 million.

In mid-2006, Alimentation Couche-Tard entered into a franchising agreement with ConocoPhillips to brand some their of the company-owned stores into Circle K in the western portion of the US. ConocoPhillips remodeled the stores into the Circle K scheme but will still operate them. The stores will still have the new ConocoPhillips unified canopy design and ProClean gasolines.

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