The Spinx Co. Earns Top Nod Among South Carolina Workplaces
GREENVILLE, S.C. — The Spinx Co. is earning top workplace honors in South Carolina. The recognition comes as the retailer marks 50 years in the convenience industry.
The company was honored as the No. 1 Best Place to Work in South Carolina by SC Biz News and the Best Companies Group. This initiative is dedicated to identifying and recognizing South Carolina's most innovative and top-notch employers.
"Being recognized as the #1 Best Place to Work in South Carolina is one of the biggest honors we have been given over the past 50 years," said Stewart Spinks, founder and chairman of Spinx. "At Spinx, we consider ourselves one big family and our people are the most important part of our company.
"Without our committed staff, we would not be where we are today. As leaders, making our teammates lives better is truly the only way we can make our guests' lives easier and after all, at Spinx, that's why we exist," Spinks CEO added.
Spinx joined with the other ranked companies at the "Best Places to Work" awards reception on Thursday, Aug. 18 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center in Columbia, S.C.
Each year, publishers at SC Biz News and the Best Companies Group join together to produce the program for Best Places to Work in South Carolina.
The program is open to all South Carolina for-profit and not-for-profit organizations with at least 15 employees working in South Carolina.
Milestone Year
The nod comes as Spinx prepares to celebrate its 50th anniversary on Dec. 1, 2022.
In late 2021, nearly 50 years after opening the first Spinx convenience store, and 10 years after his induction into the Convenience Store News Hall of Fame, Spinks still talked with CSNews about the resiliency of the convenience channel and its ability to be a good community neighbor.
As the convenience industry weathered disruption in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spinks said he felt an enormous obligation to take care of both his employees and customers.
"We hired an extra staff member for each store in charge of deep cleaning," he said, adding that these teammates wore a special uniform and created "a theater of cleanliness for the store."
In addition to encouraging its employees to get vaccinated, Spinx gave incentive pay to associates in the form of $2 extra per hour for three to four months during the pandemic.
"It's in the DNA of the channel to be a good community neighbor and as a local South Carolina company, it's even more important for us to do the right thing," said Spinks, who started in the convenience retail industry working for Shell before buying his first gas station from the oil company in 1972.
Greenville-based Spinx operates 82 convenience stores throughout South Carolina, and with approximately 1,500 employees, it is the largest privately held retailer headquartered in the state.