The store was in the process of being restocked by one of the two employees when I was there, which explains the mess. Notice the former Corner Store sign behind the chef’s hat on the wallpaper. The blue and brown paint and Corner Store decor were all still in place inside. As the the gas station is still selling Valero-branded gasoline, no effort was made to cover up the Valero logo. As the Corner Store brand was originally owned by Valero, their logo was combined together where possible. This was a problem towards the end of the Circle K changeover in Houston with many spots going blank. Notice that the wide format double ad holders are still in place. The center number with the circular border was unique to them. These gas pumps are a Diamond Shamrock dead giveaway. Using the pictured pickup as reference, the building is about three trucks long. As you can see from the outside, this was a very small store. The exterior of the convenience store is completely unchanged- except for the updated signage. By 2020, a change had to take place, and this Corner Store is a perfect example of what happened when a store wasn’t selected to convert. The sign still said Corner Store but this was a lobotomized version of the old store. As more stores became Circle K, the private label products were dropped, and the Polar Pop branding was applied to cups and soda fountains. The parent company, CST Industries, still produced private label goods to be sold in stores, while cups, lids, etc. While the changeover took place, former Corner Store locations continued to operate as normal. As of 2021, there are still some former Corner Stores in the Houston area that operate as Circle Ks but have not received new exterior signage. While the remodel process was hinged around updating the stores, the biggest change was obviously the branding. As such conversion from Corner Store to Circle K was extremely slow. As this began so did divestment of locations such as a failed Stop n Go prototypes, Corner Stores that were too close to existing Circle K locations, and many other stores that just did not fit the new image the company was aiming for. One year after the sale was completed, the first Circle K conversions began in 2018. After a series of take overs, mergers, and sell offs, what was once Diamond Shamrock’s Corner Store concept was sold to Circle K. Diamond Shamrock’s rural stores contained far fewer services compare to their urban counterparts, but they were still comparable to their ever expanding competitors. Based on the exterior features, it seems to have been a Corner Store from day one. This location was built in Fredericksburg, TX in 1985. Today, we’re taking a quick look at a gas station in an unusual situation- a former Valero Corner Store that was not selected to be converted to Circle K.
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