Timewise Food Stores

Landmark Industries owns and operates 212 convenience stores and distributes fuel to an additional 229 or so dealer locations and other sites in and around Houston, San Antonio and Austin. All company-owned locations are called Timewise Food Stores. New locations built from the ground up are larger, averaging 5,000 square feet. This allows the chain to add more high-margin items to the stores, which has been successful for Landmark.

Landmark Industries has been in business more than 25 years, with its first convenience store opened in 1982 in Hempstead, Texas. Each store has unique attributes, with inventory that serves the market for each location. In Houston, for example, the company takes a "country store" approach and has stores near residential areas. Other locations are in more rural areas that may require different inventory, such as more grocery items, dairy products or take-home foods.

The company's growth plans call for six to eight new stores per year. Current activity is centered on raze and rebuild of existing "under canopy" sites, which are converting to a larger format. Growth plans also include expanding fuel distribution.

Shell is the chain's dominant fuel brand. It is featured at 350 locations (including dealers). The next biggest brand is Exxon at 65 sites, followed by Chevron, Texaco and Valero. Landmark is a distributor of all fuel brands, and it uses a common carrier to supply fuel to its dealers. Landmark advises its dealers on brand compliance and new-store designs, but does not have buying influence on any store products.