Overview
Since the 1980s, Circle K has been the largest company-owned convenience-store chain (i.e. of non-franchised stores) in the U.S. It was second in overall number of U.S. stores to 7-Eleven. However by 1989, it faced strong competition from convenience stores owned by oil companies, and Circle K declared bankruptcy in 1990. By July 2010, Circle K had dropped to fourth rank in number of stores (3,455), then behind BP (4,730 stores) and Shell (4,630 convenience stores).
Some Circle K stores operate gasoline pumps selling Union 76-branded motor fuels; others sell Mobil, Marathon, ConocoPhillips, Irving, BP, Sunoco or Shell-branded fuel. Until mid-2006, nearly all Circle K stores in South Texas sold Citgo-branded fuel; however, those stores have dropped the Circle K name and now operate as Stripes Convenience Stores and are served by Valero-branded fuel. Circle K stores in northeast Ohio vary depending upon what stores they used to be: the majority are former Citgo/Holland Oil, whose gas is branded as Circle K; others are remnants of the Lawson's/Dairy Mart chain, which sell gas from other companies. Some locations, especially older outlets in the company's core markets of the American Southwest, do not sell gasoline.
The chain operates internationally, branching into Mexico and continents such as Asia. In Hong Kong the store is called OK in reference to the circle around the K. Taiwan used to operate under the Circle K brand but has since re-branded its stores to be called OK MART
Circle K was previously in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, acting as the food-store portions of many Shell stations. The Circle K brand re-entered the Canadian market in 2008, in connection with Couche-Tard's acquisition of Irving Oil's convenience store network, as discussed below.
The chain 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.
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