SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Pride Stores has reached the milestone of its 100th anniversary as a business. The convenience-store retailer is celebrating with a series of promotions through the end of the year.
Click through for details on Pride’s long history …
Pride, which was known originally as Orchard Garage, Bolduc Bros. Proprietors, started as a livery stable for horses and carriages in 1917 in the Indian Orchard neighborhood of Springfield, Mass., where it is still based.
CEO Robert Bolduc’s grandfather repaired horse-drawn carriages. The family then began repairing automobiles, and Bolduc was among the first in the state to start a self-service gas station.
Pride now has about 30 c-stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Bolduc attributed the chain’s success to outstanding employees, as well as being adaptable. The chain is now upgrading its foodservice offering.
“We’re taking the next big step, and that is into more food stores,” Bolduc told CSP Daily News. “So our goal now is that you will think of Pride not as a gas station that sells food, but a food store that sells gas.”
Pride established a commissary kitchen on Cottage Street about three years ago, according to a report by WWLP. New stores, and some existing ones, have a food court with a deli, coffee bar and Dunkin’ Donuts or Subway. The chain is experimenting with soft-serve ice cream. New stores will have drive-thru windows, and existing stores are being retrofitted.
The stores are devoting less space to groceries. The chain is devoting floor space to eating areas that seat up to 30 people. The company is planning to add a Wi-Fi cafe with high-top counters and places where people can plug in and recharge laptops, phones and tablets while they eat or drink.
In celebration of Pride’s 100th anniversary, every month through the end of the year, the retailer will raffle off 100 prizes, including free fuel and food. Customers enter the raffle automatically each time they swipe their rewards card.
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