Sampson-Bladen Oil/Han-Dee Hugo’s

Sampson-Bladen Oil Co. Inc. operates 77 Han-Dee Hugo convenience stores throughout North Carolina, with a few new sites opened in 2014 and 2015. The company's main market is the Research Triangle—Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Durham, N.C.

The Raleigh, N.C.-based company's logo features a distinctive freckled-face lad with a red and blue oval background.

All the stores sell gasoline, flying the fuel brands BP, Exxon, Spirit and CITGO; 15 of the stores have car washes.

Sampson-Bladen also delivers fuel to 55 dealers but is strictly a supplier and doesn't make any in-store purchasing decisions for the dealers. Han-Dee Hugo stores at one time were co-owned with partner United Energy. United Energy no longer exists, and the stores are solely owned and operated by Sampson-Bladen, a longtime family-owned and -operated company.

In 2012, the chain added its first Subway and now has four of the franchises. A store in Duck, N.C., has a gourmet seafood restaurant adjoining. Cravings Steaks & Seafood offers everything from lobster rolls to seafood pots in its bustling restaurant beside the store, enjoying twice the volume it would see in a traditional dining-room setting. Meanwhile, the company also is upgrading older stores, with two remodels completed in 2014.