“We’re like the Statue of Liberty,” Pete Sodini told me. “Send me your weak and suffering, and we’ll buy you.”
The first time I met Pete was in fall 1998. Then, he was commandeering the fastest-growing chain in the convenience industry and, until that point, had not acquiesced to an interview with a trade pub. He was in the process of building a company from 400 stores in 1997 to more than 1,600 in 2009. But more than store count, he was building an enterprise that would evolve from a faceless investment into a recognizable brand.
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