Hot Facts About Hotlanta

As the capital of Georgia and its most populated city, it only makes sense that Atlanta has its fair share of convenience stores. Interestingly, though, no one c-store operator dominates the market here. Chevron leads with 367 locations, but nipping at its heels is Shell at 351 sites.

Want to know who Atlanta’s other top c-store players are? We reveal the top 20 below, and also look at some little-known facts about “Hotlanta” (or perhaps, you prefer its other nicknames The ATL or The A). With this trivia, you’re sure to be the toast of every NACS Show party.

Did you know:

• In the past six years, the Atlanta metro area has added more than 458,568 people annually, more than any other metro area in the United States. At this growth rate, the projected population of Atlanta’s 20 core counties for 2020 is 6.4 million.
   
• Atlanta is just a 2-hour flight away from 83 percent of U.S. cities.
   
• Atlanta has more than 65 streets named Peachtree.
   
• Many of Atlanta’s corridors follow the paths created by the Creek and Cherokee Indian nations who inhabited the area until the early 19th century.
   
• Atlanta is one of only two cities in the world to be home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners. At the age of 35, Martin Luther King Jr. was the youngest man to receive the prize in 1964. President Jimmy Carter received the prize in 2002.
   
• Atlanta is the only city in North America destroyed by a fire as an act of war. Following the city’s surrender to General Sherman in 1864, only 400 structures remained standing. Today, the city’s symbol is the Phoenix, the legendary bird of Egyptian mythology that rose from its own ashes.
 
• The Eastern Continental Divide, which separates the Gulf of Mexico drainage from the watersheds that flow directly into the Atlantic Ocean, runs right through downtown Atlanta. Rainwater that falls on the south and east sides of the divide eventually runs into the Atlantic Ocean, while rainwater on the north and west sides runs into the Gulf.