COMPANY DESCRIPTION

Circle K is an international chain of convenience stores, founded in 1951, in El Paso, Texas. Circle K is a direct subsidiary of and is operated by Alimentation Couche-Tard, a Canadian-based multinational corporation with over 16,000 locations internationally. Circle K is primarily located in the Southern, Western, Southwestern, and Midwestern United States. In recent years, the company has acquired the 90-store Spectrum chain serving Georgia and Alabama, the CFM chain in Missouri, 35 Sterling Dairy locations in Northwest Ohio, and 26 stores under various brands from Chico Enterprises of Morgantown, West Virginia. This all came after the 2005 rebranding of the various Couche-Tard stores (Mac’s, Bigfoot, Dairy Mart, and Handy Andy) under the more nationally known Circle K brand. Couche-Tard is the leader in the Canadian convenience store industry. In the United States, it is the largest independent convenience store operator in terms of the number of company-operated stores (corporate stores). In Europe, Couche-Tard is a leader in convenience store and road transportation fuel retail in the Scandinavian countries (Norway, Sweden and Denmark), in the Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), and in Ireland and also has an important presence in Poland. As of June 30, 2017, Couche-Tard’s network comprised 9,424 convenience stores throughout North America, including 8,077 stores with road transportation fuel dispensing. Its North American network consists of 18 business units, including 14 in the United States covering 42 states and 4 in Canada covering all 10 provinces. Approximately 95,000 people are employed throughout its network and at its service offices in North America.