PDQ Food Stores was a chain of

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticket ...

s located in the Wisconsin areas of

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

and

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, and one California store near Homewood. The chain began as Tri Dairy Store in 1948 in Middleton, Wisconsin, opened by Sam Jacobsen. Originally the store carried only

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in th ...

s, but Jacobsen added other grocery products as time went on, and business improved. The second store didn't come along until 1962; the name PDQ, an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for "pretty darn quick" or "pretty damn quick", was a popular catch phrase in the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

era, and the name was suggested by Jacobsen's wife Mary. The original store soon adopted the name as well. As of January 2016, PDQ Food Stores numbered 34 locations. Most sold

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organic co ...

, as is common with modern convenience stores. On May 1, 2009, PDQ Food Stores was sold to the employees and was 100% employee owned. On July 19, 2017, Kwik Trip Stores signed an agreement to acquire the assets of PDQ Food Stores. The acquisition was completed on October 9, 2017, and Kwik Trip remodeled and re-imaged the existing PDQ locations over the following weeks.

References

External links

PDQstores.com, not the chain's web site
Defunct companies based in Wisconsin Defunct retail companies of the United States Middleton, Wisconsin Economy of Milwaukee Buildings and structures in Placer County, California Economy of Madison, Wisconsin Economy of the Midwestern United States Convenience stores of the United States 1948 establishments in Wisconsin Retail companies established in 1948 2017 disestablishments in Wisconsin Retail companies disestablished in 2017 2017 mergers and acquisitions {{US-retail-company-stub