The top 100 convenience retailers in the United States accounted for 44,697 locations in 2023. Independents, meanwhile, accounted for 92,301 sites, up from 90,950 in 2022.
The Top Five C-Store Retailers
Spoiler alert: The top five convenience store retailers of 2023 are the same as in 2022. The difference is that three of the top five added to their store count.
1. The top spot again goes to 7-Eleven Inc. with 12,601 stores. The company ranked No. 1 in 2022 with 12,821 stores.
2. Second is Circle K parent company Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. with 5,845 stores in the United States in 2023, up from 5,702 stores the year prior.
3. The fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States, Casey’s, is No. 3 in the c-store universe with 2,642 stores, up from 2,470 stores in 2022.
4. Fourth is EG America with 1,572 stores, down from its 2022 store count of 1,696 locations.
5. Rounding out the top five is GPM Investments LLC with 1,517 stores, up from 1,391 stores in 2022.
Regionally, here’s where some of the store count gains and losses among the top five chains transpired:
• 7-Eleven shed stores in all but two regions—Southeast and South Central.
• Couche-Tard gained stores in all regions except the West and Midwest in 2023. The company acquired 112 locations from MAPCO Express Inc., a split deal where Lawrenceville, Georgia-based Majors Management acquired MAPCO Express Inc., including the MAPCO My Reward$ loyalty program and the MAPCO brand.
Couche-Tard also plans to open more than 60 new Circle K stores across Wisconsin in 2024 as part of a broader strategy to open 500 new stores, mainly in North America, over the next five years.
• Casey’s continued to not operate stores in the Northeast and West regions but gained 172 stores across the other four regions.
• EG America shed 124 stores in 2023, a decline in store count in every region.
• GPM Investments, owned by Richmond, Virginia-based Arko Corp., gained 126 stores in 2023, with the largest store gain taking place in the South Central region, where the company had 380 stores in 2023, up from 307 in 2022.
M&A Among the Top 100
One significant move came from Utah-based Maverik’s acquisition of Iowa-based Kum & Go—the companies ended 2022 with 399 and 394 stores, respectively. Maverik kicked off 2024 with 821 stores and jumped from the 16th largest convenience retailer to the 10th largest.
Two top 10 c-store chains surpassed 1,000 stores in 2023: Wawa increased its store count from 991 to 1,043 stores, and QuikTrip grew its store count from 972 to 1,039 stores.
GPM Investments picked up 135 convenience stores with the acquisition of Transit Energy Group’s Corner Mart, Dixie Mart, Flash Market, Market Express and Rose Mart c-stores, which are located throughout Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.
Casey’s had a busy 2023. The Iowa-based chain acquired 63 of EG America’s Minit Mart and Certified Oil c-stores located in Kentucky and Tennessee. Casey’s also acquired Sherman, Texas-based W. Douglass Distributing’s 22 Lone Star convenience stores, and it also acquired 26 Minit Mart locations in Kansas City in June.
In April 2023, Global Partners and ExxonMobil acquired 64 Houston-area Timewise Food Stores from the Landmark Group.
Love’s Travel Stops, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, is planning to add 20 to 25 new stores, update 35 to 40 legacy stores and rebuild four stores.
In February 2023, BP agreed to acquire TravelCenters of America, a move that accelerated BP’s reentry into the retail landscape, which began in 2021 with its acquisition of Thorntons.
