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SuperAmerica was a chain of gasoline stations and convenience stores in the
Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...
, based in
Woodbury, Minnesota Woodbury is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States, eight miles (13 km) east of Saint Paul along Interstate 94. It is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The population was 75,102 at the 2020 census, making it ...
. It was owned by
Marathon Petroleum Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a corporate spin-off in 2011. Following it ...
. The first convenience store opened in the 1960s. SuperAmerica had 278 stores with 271 in Minnesota, 11 in Wisconsin and 2 in South Dakota.


History

SuperAmerica convenience stores first opened in 1960 in
Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississip ...
. They were first operated by Northwestern Refining of
St. Paul Park, Minnesota St. Paul Park is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 5,279 at the 2010 census. It is on the east bank of the Mississippi River, five miles (8 km) downstream from St. Paul. Geography According to the U ...
. SuperAmerica operated stations primarily in Minnesota, but also a number of locations in western
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
and eastern
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
. The chain formerly operated stores in
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, but these were sold to
Shell Oil Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...
in 1993. Ashland Petroleum purchased Northwestern Refining and the SuperAmerica chain in the 1970s. Ashland had marketed full-service stations under its own "Ashland" brand. As self-service was legalized, it used the brands "Solo", "Save Mart", "Save More", and "Rich", along with others. Ashland converted most of its outlets in its core territory to "SuperAmerica", while withdrawing from Florida. It maintained a few outlets under its other brand names to keep the trademarks valid. In 1997, Marathon and Ashland Petroleum merged, forming
Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a corporate spin-off in 2011. Following it ...
(MAP), a joint venture combining the companies' refining, marketing and transportation businesses, with Marathon owning 62% of the operations while Ashland owned 38%. In the process, Ashland's SuperAmerica and Marathon's Emro Marketing Company were merged to form Speedway SuperAmerica LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of MAP. SuperAmerica stores outside the Upper Midwest were rebranded as Speedway, including briefly in
Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...
until Marathon decided to withdraw the Speedway brand in this area and sold off the stores in
Greater Pittsburgh Greater Pittsburgh is a populous region centered around its largest city and economic hub, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The region encompasses Pittsburgh's urban core county, Allegheny, and six adjacent Pennsylvania counties: Armstrong, Beaver, ...
to independent owners and in at least one case to locally-based
GetGo 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. History ...
. In 2004 Marathon bought out Ashland's share. In February 2011, Marathon sold its SuperAmerica stores along with the Marathon refinery in St. Paul Park, Minnesota to Northern Tier Energy, a newly formed company backed by the private equity firms
ACON Investments ACON Investments is an American international private equity investment company that administrates private equity funds as well as special purpose partnerships which invest in Latin America, United States and Europe. The organization was started ...
and
TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth c ...
. Northern Tier Energy went public in 2012. In 2013,
Western Refining Western Refining, Inc., is a Texas-based Fortune 200 and Global 2000 crude oil refiner and marketer operating primarily in the Southwestern, North-Central and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. Western Refining (WNR) has been publicly tr ...
, a Marathon subsidiary, bought a controlling stake in Northern Tier Energy. In 2015, employees protested at the corporate headquarters in Woodbury, Minnesota, to lobby against low hourly wages and erratic employee scheduling. During the early 2010s, following the chain's purchase by Northern Tier Energy, the chain began to fall behind competitors. Shoppers reported rusting canopies, water damaged ceilings, broken tile floors, and malfunctioning soda machines . As SuperAmerica's primary competitor
Holiday Stationstores Holiday Stationstores is a chain of gasoline and convenience stores in the United States. It is part of the second largest (a subsidiary of Alimentation Couche-Tard) convenience store chain in the world, with over 500 locations in 10 states (Alim ...
continually invested in locations (especially after that chain's acquisition by
Circle K Circle K Stores, Inc. is a Canadian chain of convenience stores headquartered in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It is owned by the multinational company Couche-Tard. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1 ...
parent
Alimentation Couche-Tard Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or simply Couche-Tard, is a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores. The company has 15,000 stores across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuani ...
), SA stagnated. Upon
Kwik Trip Kwik Trip is a chain of convenience stores founded in 1965 with locations throughout Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin under the name Kwik Trip, and in Illinois and Iowa under the name Kwik Star (to avoid confusion with QuikTrip ...
and
Casey's Casey's Retail Company (doing business as Casey's) is a chain of convenience stores in the Midwestern and Southern United States. The company is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa, a suburb of Des Moines. As of April 30, 2019, Casey's had 2,146 stor ...
entrance to the local market SA fell further behind . Holiday was generating twice as much revenue per store as SA. Furthermore, SA failed to further develop its food service offerings like their competitors did in the 2010s . On October 11, 2018, it was announced on the chain's webpage that SuperAmerica locations were being rebranded as Speedway locations. This decision follows Marathon's acquisition of SuperAmerica beginning in May 2018. Marathon ultimately sold Speedway to
7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc., stylized as 7-ELEVE, is a multinational chain of retail convenience stores, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The chain was founded in 1927 as an ice house storefront in Dallas. It was named Tote'm Stores between 1928 and 1946. A ...
in 2021. As some former SuperAmerica locations were originally 7-Eleven locations, those locations came full circle.


Rewards programs

SuperAmerica maintained a rewards program for customers called "My SA Rewards." Points in the program were redeemable for discounts in gasoline purchase or on other purchases in stores. The rewards program offered 3 cents off per gallon of gasoline. From 2011 to 2016, the company accepted the coupons of competitors gas coupons. The company also offered its own credit card to reduce cost of gasoline by 5 cents per gallon. The credit card was offered to customers in partnership with the bank First Bankcard.


References


External links


Official website
(Archive) {{Coord, 44, 56, 24, N, 92, 57, 19, W, display=title Companies based in Minnesota Convenience stores of the United States Economy of the Midwestern United States Gas stations in the United States Marathon Petroleum Defunct retail companies of the United States Retail companies established in 1960 Retail companies disestablished in 2018 1960 establishments in Minnesota 2018 disestablishments in Minnesota