Mac's Convenience Stores
FormerlyMac's Milk (1961–1975)
TypeSubsidiary
Founded1961 (1961) (Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada)
Defunct2017
FateAcquired by Alimentation Couche-Tard and rebranded as Circle K
SuccessorCircle K
Number of locations
5,906
Website
https://www.circlek.com/

Mac's Convenience Stores (known colloquially as Mac's or Mac's Milk) was a chain of convenience stores in Canada. The company was divided into three geographic business units: eastern Canada, central Canada, and western Canada. It had been owned and operated by Alimentation Couche-Tard since 1999. Since 2017, it served as one of Couche-Tard's two main banners in English-speaking Canada, alongside Circle K. The brand is currently being phased out in favour of the Circle K banner.[1]

History

Mac's with gas station in Woodstock, Ontario

Kenneth (Ken) and Carl McGowen incorporated Mac's Milk Limited in Ontario on April 4, 1962. On July 5, 1963, Silverwood Dairies Limited acquired 40% of the shares of Mac's Milk Limited, and increased its holding to 80% on March 29, 1968, and 100% on January 12, 1972.

In 1971, the company purchased 18 convenience stores operating under the "Little Z Convenience Stores" banner from Zehrs Markets. In 1974, it bought thirteen Mini-Mart convenience stores in Vancouver from a subsidiary of George Weston Limited and seven Starlite Variety Stores operating in Windsor, Ontario.

One of the few remaining Mac's stores in Vancouver, British Columbia in May 2019

The company was renamed "Mac's Convenience Stores Limited" on May 7, 1975. In 1976, Silverwood Dairies Limited purchased shares of Royal Oak Dairy, including operations of convenience stores under the Bantam and Astro names.

In 1994, the company sold most of the Mac's stores in Quebec to Alimentation Couche-Tard Ltd. Mac's stores in Quebec were renamed "Dépan-Escompte Couche-Tard". Silcorp, the parent company of Mac's, acquired 163 Southern Ontario stores, and assets of rival Becker's in November 1996. On April 14, 1999, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. purchased Silcorp (including the Mac's and Becker's chains). Mac's dropped its longtime cat logo, and replaced it with Couche-Tard's owl logo.

On September 23, 2015, Alimentation Couche-Tard announced that as part of a global re-branding, all Mac's stores would be converted to Couche-Tard's Circle K banner; the Canadian renaming began in May 2017.[2][3]

Some stores across Canada continue to use the Mac's logo.

Marketing

The original mascot

The original mascot for Mac's was a cat named MacTavish (seen below), wearing a Tam o' shanter and a kilt, holding a jug of milk. Following Mac's acquisition by Couche-Tard in 1999, it was changed to the winking owl named Hibou, which was the mascot for Couche-Tard's convenience stores and gas stations in Quebec.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mac's Convenience Stores.
  1. ↑ "All Western Canada Mac's Convenience Stores to become Circle K". Global News. Retrieved 2019-10-15.
  2. ↑ "Mac's stores to be renamed Circle K, says owner Couche-Tard". CBC News. September 22, 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  3. ↑ "Circle K Transformation Goes Beyond Rebranding". CSPNet. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
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