C.E. Taylor Oil Inc.

C.E. Taylor Oil Inc., better known for its convenience-retail brand, Chuckles, began in 1967 when Charles E. Taylor bought out Jones Oil Co., which was a small Shell retail or wholesale distributor centralized in Washington, Indiana. Charles E. Taylor, Jr. soon started to learn the business and joined the team in 1977 after graduating college from Indiana University.

In 1985 C. E. Taylor Oil Inc. converted its first gas station into a c-store, an uncommon theme then. The success of the first c-store led to many conversions, rebuilds and ground-ups in the following 20 years.

In the last few years more stores and food chains have been added to the mix, giving C.E. Taylor 29 locations throughout southern Indiana and western Kentucky. As the count of stores grew the company began to brand itself and add branded food chains to keep with demand, such as Subway, Noble Romans and Quizno's.

For benchmarking purposes, store counts are as of Jan. 1, 2024.