Stewart's Shops Corp.

With a history in dairy farming going back to 1917 and a legacy as a purveyor of award-winning ice cream, Stewart’s Shops is an employee- and family-owned convenience-store chain based in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. Employees own approximately 40% of the company through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

The chain is known regionally in upstate New York and southern Vermont for its milk, ice cream, coffee, food to go, gasoline and other convenience items. The company has an extensive production, distribution and warehousing network that supplies its stores. As a result, the chain is unique in the number of products it produces in its own facilities, including 20-ounce “refresher” teas and dairy drinks. It also offers a private-label craft beer.

Stewart’s Shops frequently remodels its stores. It is also known for its record-setting Stewart's Holiday Match charity donation program.

Source: Convenience Digital Resource Library, Technomic. For benchmarking purposes, store counts are year-end 2018.