Meet the Top 20 Growth Chains of 2019

Big deals, small deals and midsize deals all combined to make 2018 another very active year in terms of convenience channel merger and acquisition activity.

Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Corp. (MPC) — the parent company of Speedway LLC — added the highest number of stores year over year, earning it the No. 1 spot on the 2019 Convenience Store News Top 20 Growth Chains ranking. In fact, MPC’s addition of 1,492 locations accounted for more than 40 percent of the 3,635 stores overall added by the top 20.

MPC found its growth through one mega-deal: its $23.3-billion purchase of Andeavor. This move expanded its operations across key markets nationwide, combining the strong position MPC has historically enjoyed east of the Mississippi with the western U.S. presence Andeavor had built up over time.

Also joining MPC in the spotlight this year is West Des Moines, Iowa-based Yesway, which grew its store count 48.7 percent between January 2018 and January 2019. Through a series of smaller, but calculated, acquisitions — 13 stores here, 11 stores there, 26 stores here, and so on — Yesway went from 77 locations to 150. It achieved the highest percentage growth of all the companies on this year’s ranking.

The exclusive CSNews Top 20 Growth Chains report is based on store count figures provided by TDLinx, a service of Nielsen. This is the eighth year that CSNews has partnered with TDLinx to identify the c-store retailers that added the most convenience stores in the past year. A convenience store is defined as a store that includes a broad merchandising mix, extended hours of operation and a minimum of 500 SKUs. Fueling stations with small kiosk stores do not meet the official definition and thus are not reflected in TDLinx’s store count figures.

Click below to download our full report detailing how each company earned its spot on this year’s Top 20 Growth Chains ranking.