Admiral Petroleum

Admiral Petroleum is a convenience store chain inclusive of tobacco stores covering the lower peninsula of Michigan, with a few stores in the upper peninsula and parts of Indiana. The company is known for its discount pricing and convenient locations. It keeps consumer prices low by maintaining its own warehousing and distribution operations.

Admiral began its business in the 1950s as one of the early participants in the egg, bread and milk-based convenience-store trend, and later found its niche as a discount convenience operator.

There are two divisions: the regular convenience-store sector (about 120 units), and the wholesale and retail Admiral Discount Tobacco Store division (about 50 units).

This company believes in an everyday-low-price strategy, saying its main objective is “giving the customer a fair value for their dollar.” Admiral eliminates the middleman and buys in bulk, warehousing and distributing products directly to the stores.