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Maverik, Buc-ee’s, Wawa, SQRL, Couche-Tard Among 2024 Top Newsmakers of the Year

Readers decided these stories were the biggest convenience-store news in the last 12 months
Kum & Go
Photograph courtesy of Kum & Go

The top CSP Daily News stories of 2024 according to readers included the usual suspects and ongoing dramas, as well as some surprises.

Here they are, in order of views:

1. Here Are the Top 40 C-Store Chains Ranked: A 2024 Update

Ahead of the much-anticipated full Top 202 list (see No. 3) of the biggest convenience-store chains by size each year, CSP Daily News publishes an update of the top 40 rankings each spring.

One of the most significant acquisitions of 2023 affecting the 2024 list was Maverik purchasing Kum & Go. The deal doubled the store count for Maverik’s brand and heralded the beginning of the end of a venerable but double entendre-prone c-store name in Kum & Go. (See No. 2)

Significant changes from 2023 going into 2024 also included Alimentation Couche-Tard and Majors Management splitting up MAPCO and BP acquiring TravelCenters of America, among many others.

2. Maverik’s Decision to Retire the Kum & Go Brand

Although the name Kum & Go was chosen by the founders, Bill Krause and T.S. Gentle, using their last initials to represent their partnership, combined with a variant spelling of words that suggest the speed of service the stores offered, the culture has ascribed a different meaning to the name. Perhaps for that reason, but also because the chain’s acquirer, Maverik, itself has a very strong c-store brand, the new owner has moved forward with a gradual rebranding of Kum & Go.

CSP Daily News broke the story of the rebranding in January.

3. Top 202 Convenience Stores 2024

In June, CSP published the annual Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by total number of company-owned and -operated retail locations as of Jan. 1.

The ranking captures the shifts in chain ownership and prominence as a result of some of the biggest mergers-and-acquisitions deals of the year. It also highlights up-and-coming chains and other growing retailers—but also those that dropped off the list.

4. Gas Station Owner Ordered to Pay More Than $1 Million in Back Wages, Damages

In August, the U.S. Department of Labor obtained a federal court judgment requiring 15 gas stations—incorporated under individual company names, operating under brands including bp, Mobil and Sunoco in Bronx, Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York—and their owner and president, to pay more than $1 million in back wages and liquidated damages to more than 100 current and former employees in response to a federal investigation.

5. Buc-ee’s Breaks Ground on First Store in Virginia

Mega-convenience-store chain Buc-ee’s always makes news. But the Buc-ee’s story that garnered the most attention this year was the Texas-based company’s groundbreaking on its debut location in Virginia in late January.

The new travel center in Rockingham County, near Mount Crawford, Virginia, will occupy 74,000 square feet and offer 120 fueling positions. The company expects the store to open in mid-2025.

6. Wawa Opens First Georgia Store

Wawa’s first convenience store in Georgia also attracted a lot of attention. It opened the store in Bainbridge, Georgia, in November. Over the next five to eight years, the Pennsylvania-based chain plans to build and open more than 26 stores in the Peach State.

7. SQRL Agrees to Sell Its Convenience Stores

In April, SQRL Holdings agreed to sell its convenience stores under SQRL Service Stations LLC to Gas Hub Investments LLC. SQRL had faced significant “liquidity issues” over the past several months, and the potential sale was “an effort to ameliorate this situation for all stakeholders.”

SQRL Service Stations filed for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August, converting it to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in November after its trustee determined that there was “no realistic hope of selling this business as a going concern or of a successful reorganization.”

Industry observers expect the SQRL saga, one of the biggest developing stories of the year, to continue into 2025. 

8. Eclipse Update: Convenience Stores, Gas Stations Embrace Solar Event

In the spring, convenience-store chains including 7-Eleven, Applegreen, Buc-ee’s, GetGo, Pilot Flying J, Sheetz and Stewart’s Shops sold eclipse glasses, offered deals and made sure their stores were fully stocked with fuel, food, snacks, beverages and merchandise for the big April 8 event.

9. New Convenience-Store Roundup for January 2024

CSP Daily News’s monthly new convenience-store roundup is a much-read feature. The unscientifically gathered roundup—gleaned from company announcements, websites, email, social media and newspapers around the country, among other sources—is by no means complete, but it serves as an ongoing competitive snapshot of newly opened or closed U.S. c-stores, gas stations, truck stops and travel centers. Many of the stores listed here are owned by independent operators, while others belong to major chains. Some of the owners and operators are new entrepreneurs, and some are industry veterans.

To be sure your locations are listed in upcoming roundups, please send new-store announcements and other news to Greg Lindenberg at greg.lindenberg@informa.com

10. Alimentation Couche-Tard’s Bid for 7-Eleven

This CSP Daily News digest of coverage about Alimentation Couche-Tard’s continuing takeover attempt of 7-Eleven Inc. parent Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. and Seven & i's continuing effort to prevent it has been a much-accessed reader resource.

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