McALLEN, Texas -- Nearly six-dozen Circle K convenience stores are being outfitted with a new name. "Very simply, we are rebranding from Circle K to Stripes," Otis Peaks, a spokesperson for Corpus Christi, Texas-based Susser Holdings Corp., told The Monitor.
Susser is Texas' largest c-store operator, operating 320 Circle K stores in Texas and Oklahoma. The transition to the new brand should be complete by year's end, when Susser's franchise agreement with Circle K expires.
Peaks said he couldn't offer any more information behind [image-nocss] Susser's decision to end its relationship with Circle K, the third largest convenience store franchise in the nation, due to federal rules that prohibit promoting a new brand during the process of an initial public offering. Susser's IPO last week raised $107 million, said the report.
The new Stripes brand is Susser's own creation. Over the past several weeks, thousands of its marketing dollars have been used to promote the new Stripes brand, including rolling out a new logo, signs, cups and other packaging. Billboards (pictured) have touted the change with a banner reading "Stripes are in (Circles are out)," a campaign aimed at transitioning customers, said the report.
Susser describes the rebranding campaign on its website: Stripes Are In. That's the line that's leading customersfrom Laredo to Lawtoninto the new Stripes Convenience Stores. Susser Holdings Corp. tapped BrandExtract, a brand development firm based in Houston, to help define and launch the new brand. BrandExtract crafted a complete identity package, including new logos and exterior store signage. The new look and feel will be taken to market via outdoor boards, weekly radio spots, in-store point-of-purchase signage, Stripes cups and other packaging. Look for initial brand rollout in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2006.
The first fully branded Stripes store is in San Juan, Texas, Shalimar Madrigal, a spokesperson for the stores' Upper Valley market, told the newspaper. In addition to outfitting current Circle K stores with the new brand, there are plans to build several new Stripes stores in the area, she said.
The name should be the only difference that customers notice, as store management and employees are expected to stay the same, Peaks said.
"We are still the same management team, still the same friendly faces," he told the paper.
It is unclear whether the Circle K franchise plans to sell its brand to other c-store operators in the Valley, the report said, or whether other Circle K operators around the state might expand their franchise to the area.
Circle K only operates in two other Texas markets, Dallas/Fort Worth and El Paso.
The Gulf Coast region of the franchise, which operates in Dallas, doesn't have plans to add any stores here, spokesperson Kim James told The Monitor. And the franchise's West Coast region, which runs stores in El Paso, did not respond to calls from the paper for comment.
The latest developments come just months after Susser announced it would stop selling CITGO fuel at its stores and instead offer the Valero brand.
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