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Company type | Private business |
---|---|
Industry | Retail (Convenience stores) |
Founded | 1967Lancaster, PA | in
Founder | Charles and Emerson Frey |
Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | 267 |
Area served | Ohio, Pennsylvania |
Products | Petroleum |
Parent | EG America |
Website | www |
Turkey Hill Minit Markets is an American chain of convenience stores founded in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1966. As of October 2017, Turkey Hill Minit Markets had over 260 locations across Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. [2] Turkey Hill Minit Markets is owned by EG Group and operated independently from Turkey Hill, a separate Peak Rock Capital-owned brand of iced tea, ice cream and other beverages and frozen desserts. [2]
In 1967, Charles and Emerson Frey opened the first Turkey Hill Minit Markets store on Columbia Avenue in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as a way to better market their dairy products. [2] [3]
The stores operated as a separate business [4] - Farmland Industries - with the headquarters in the original store basement. In 1978, they built their second headquarters at 257 Centerville Road in East Hempfield Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This building was demolished and rebuilt as a new location. It opened in March 2023.
On December 19, 1974, the stores won a legal battle overturning the so-called blue laws that prohibited retailers opening on Sunday, and in 1976, they became the first company to offer self-service gasoline in Pennsylvania. [3]
In 1979, Turkey Hill Minit Market purchased 36 Louden Hill stores. In July 1985, Turkey Hill acquired a number of 7-Eleven stores and six Ideal Markets. In Lancaster County, where the chain originated, Turkey Hill Minit Markets were the overwhelming convenience store choice; in some cases, stores were located as close as three blocks apart.
In 1985, Kroger acquired both Turkey Hill Minit Markets and Turkey Hill Dairy, which manufactures various beverages, fruit-flavored drinks and dairy products, including milk and ice cream. [2] Kroger continued to operate both brands as separate, independent entities. [2]
During the 1990s, Turkey Hill and competitors Sheetz and Wawa began overlapping their regions of service. John Hofmeister, president of Shell Oil commented on the new situation in sworn testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in March 2006: [5] "We are seeing healthy new retail competition emerging with brands such as Wawa, Sheetz, and Turkey Hill."
In 1998, Turkey Hill opened its 249th store in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. This store was the first of many stores to open with foodservice offerings. Foodservice offerings included fresh subs, sandwiches, pizza, and many other hot foods. Many new stores are built with foodservice and car washes. Beginning in 1999, new larger stores were opened with more of an emphasis on selling gasoline. About 200 of the 240 stores in Central Pennsylvania have gas pumps. [6]
In October 2017, Kroger disclosed that it was considering the potential sale of Turkey Hill Minit Markets as well as four other convenience store brands - Kwik Shop, Loaf 'N Jug, Quik Stop, and Tom Thumb. [2] Any potential sale would exclude Turkey Hill Dairy, which is operated separately from the convenience store chain. [2]
In early February 2018, Kroger announced it had reached an agreement to sell Turkey Hill Minit Markets and its entire convenience-store portfolio to EG Group, forming the basis of EG America. [7] The sale was finalized on April 20, 2018. [8] The following year, EG America purchased Columbus, Ohio-based Certified Oil, leading to Turkey Hill's Columbus area locations to be marketed together with Certified. EG America's purchase of Cumberland Farms shortly afterwards allowed Turkey Hill and all of EG America to sell Cumberland Farms-branded coffee products.
On January 27, 2020, Burger King opened a location inside a Turkey Hill store in Cumru Township, Pennsylvania. This marks the beginning of a plan by EG Group to add fast food franchises at several Turkey Hill locations in order to update food service offerings, including Sbarro at its Midwestern locations. [9]
In 2004, the stores adopted the current signage, featuring a stylized map of the contiguous United States. EG America's Kwik Shop, Loaf 'N Jug, Quik Stop, and Tom Thumb brands all use the same logo and font, which originated with Kroger.
In The Office Season 5 episode "Weight Loss," a Turkey Hill advertisement is seen in the background when Jim proposes to Pam. This is one of many Easter eggs throughout the show that serve to remind viewers that The Office is set in Pennsylvania.
A Turkey Hill market is featured in the 2021 novel, "Black-Haired Boy" where a character, Kody Kurtz, works as a cashier at a fictional location in Berks County, Pennsylvania.
A convenience store, convenience shop, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lottery tickets, over-the-counter drugs, toiletries, newspapers and magazines.
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Schnuck Markets, Inc., doing business as Schnucks, is a supermarket chain. Based in the St. Louis area, the company was founded in 1939 with the opening of a 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) store in north St. Louis and currently operates over 100 stores in four states throughout the Midwest. Schnucks also ran stores under the Logli Supermarkets and Hilander Foods banners. Schnucks is one of the largest privately held supermarket chains in the United States and dominates the St. Louis metro grocery market.
Wawa, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores and gas stations originating in the Philadelphia metropolitan area and located along the East Coast of the United States, operating in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, West Virginia and Georgia. Wawa is based in, primarily associated with, and mainly concentrated in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, though it gradually expanded its store locations, over many decades, far beyond the Philadelphia area. The company's corporate headquarters is located in the Wawa area of Chester Heights, Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia.
Harris Teeter Supermarkets, LLC., also known as Harris Teeter Neighborhood Food & Pharmacy, is an American supermarket chain based in Matthews, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte. As of January 2025, the chain operates 262 stores in seven states and Washington, D.C. Supermarket News ranked Harris Teeter No. 34 in the 2012 "Top 75 Retailers & Wholesalers" based on 2011 fiscal year sales of $4.3 billion.
Giant Eagle, Inc. is an American supermarket chain with stores in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Maryland. The company was founded in 1918 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and incorporated on August 31, 1931. Supermarket News ranked Giant Eagle 21st on the "Top 75 North American Food Retailers" based on sales of $11 billion. In 2021, it was the 36th-largest privately held company, as determined by Forbes. Based on 2005 revenue, Giant Eagle is the 49th-largest retailer in the United States. As of summer 2014, the company had approximately $9.9 billion in annual sales. As of fall 2023, Giant Eagle, Inc. had 496 stores across the portfolio: 211 supermarkets 8 standalone pharmacies, 274 fuel station/convenience stores under the GetGo banner, and three standalone car wash under the WetGo banner. The company is headquartered in an office park in Cranberry Township, PA in Butler County.
Sheetz, Inc. is an American chain of convenience stores. Its stores, which are open 24/7 year-round, offer made-to-order fast food, and most include a gas station, while a few locations are full-scale truck stops, offering showers and a laundromat. The family-owned company has over 21,000 employees, and operates more than 750 company-owned stores located in Western, Central, and Northeastern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Michigan.
Kwik Shop is a chain of convenience stores and gas stations located throughout Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa. They offer cold beverages, coffee, snack items, general foods, lottery tickets, and gasoline. It is owned by EG America, which is headquartered in Westborough, MA.
Loaf 'N Jug is a chain of convenience stores/gas stations, owned by EG America, headquartered in Westborough, MA. Kroger owned Loaf 'N Jug and its respective brands for over two decades before exiting the convenience store business and selling them to EG Group. Some Kroger supermarket locations, such as King Soopers and Smith's, have retained the Kroger convenience store signage that is still used at Loaf 'N Jug today.
Turkey Hill Dairy, or simply known as Turkey Hill, is an American brand of iced tea, ice cream and other beverages and frozen desserts distributed throughout the United States and internationally. The company, which is headquartered in Conestoga, Pennsylvania, was a subsidiary of Kroger from 1985 until it was sold to private equity firm Peak Rock Capital in 2019.
Kwik Trip is a chain of convenience stores founded in 1965 that has locations throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan under the name Kwik Trip, and in Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota under the name Kwik Star. The company also operates stores under the name Tobacco Outlet Plus, Kwik Spirits, and Stop-N-Go. The company is privately owned by the Zietlow family and is headquartered in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
GetGo, also known as GetGo Cafe & Market, is a convenience store chain owned and operated by Giant Eagle. Both are based in suburban Pittsburgh. The chain operates locations in Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
McLane is an American wholesale supply chain services company that distributes products to convenience stores, discount retailers, wholesale clubs, drug stores, military bases, fast-food restaurants, and casual dining restaurants throughout the United States. It is also a wholesale distributor of distilled beverages in some parts of the country.
Royal Farms is a privately owned chain of convenience stores headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. The company operates more than 200 stores throughout Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Many of the stores also have gasoline and electric vehicle charging sold on the premises, as well as house-made fried chicken, chicken sandwiches, and fries as well as the giant seasonal cockerel statues.
Rutter's is a chain of convenience stores and gas stations with 86 locations in Eastern, Central and Western Pennsylvania, the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, and central Maryland. Stores are open 24 hours a day and have a made-to-order food counter, staffed around the clock.
The QuikTrip Corporation, more commonly known as QuikTrip (QT), is an American chain of convenience stores based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that operates in the Midwestern, Southern, and Western United States.
Minit Mart LLC is a chain of convenience stores operating in South Central and Western Kentucky, northern Middle Tennessee, eastern Wisconsin, the Kansas City metropolitan area, Northeast Illinois, and Northeast Ohio. Its corporate offices are located in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the chain consists of 231 locations scattered around the United States.
In the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the convenience store chains Sheetz and Wawa each have distinct and mostly non-overlapping territories. Sheetz stores are mostly located in Western Pennsylvania, while Wawa stores are primarily in the Delaware Valley. This division is apparent in the state's culture of regional identity, with many Pennsylvanians often preferring one store or the other. Pennsylvania state politicians have made public statements in support of their favorite store and even held campaign stops at their preferred convenience store chain.