| Casey's General Stores, Inc. | |
| Trade Name: | Casey's |
| Type: | Public |
| Founder: | Donald Lamberti |
| Location City: | Ankeny, Iowa |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Area Served: | Midwestern and Southern United States |
| Industry: | Retail |
| Footnotes: | [1] |
| Foundation: | , in Boone, Iowa, U.S. |
Casey's General Stores, Inc. (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.[2] As of October 1, 2023, Casey's had 2,500 stores in 16 states. Following 7-Eleven's purchase of Speedway, Casey's is the 3rd largest convenience store chain in the United States (after 7-Eleven and Circle K/Couche-Tard) and the largest that is wholly American-owned.[3] It is one of two Iowa-based Fortune 500 companies.[4] Casey's is famous for their pizza including a breakfast pizza and a taco pizza resulting in Casey's being the fifth largest pizza chain in the U.S.[5] [6]
In 1959, Donald Lamberti leased a service station in Des Moines, Iowa, from his father. After he had successfully remodeled the station into a convenience store and operated it for nine years, his gasoline supplier and friend, Kurvin C. (K.C.) Fish, suggested that he purchase the Square Deal Oil Company, a service station available for sale in Boone, Iowa. Lamberti followed Fish's advice and purchased the station, which he renamed "Casey's" after Fish, then converted it into a convenience store.[7] [8] The logo on the Boone store was used by the chain until 2020.
The Boone store (located in a town of only 12,500) did well, so Lamberti decided to see if he could duplicate his success. He built another store in Creston, Iowa (population 7,000), and that store did well also.[9] Lamberti became more ambitious and decided to open a store from scratch in the even smaller town of Waukee, Iowa (population 1,500 at the time). The Waukee store proved to be the most successful of the three, so Lamberti decided to purchase and open more stores, concentrating on towns of less than 5,000 population.[10]
By the late 1970s the chain had 118 stores and opened its first warehouse. The original store, operated by Lamberti's parents, entered the Casey's fold in 1977.
In 1982, Casey's opened its first Distribution Center in Urbandale, Iowa.
Casey's became a publicly traded company in October 1983, with an initial public offering of 700,000 shares. Around this time Casey's began to sell doughnuts and pizza in its stores. The store also briefly introduced fried chicken before abandoning the endeavor.[11]
In 1990, Casey's moved to its current facility in Ankeny, Iowa.
Casey's 1,000th store opened in Altoona, Iowa, in 1996, the same year Casey's exceeded US$1 billion in annual sales. In 1998, Lamberti stepped down from his role as CEO and became the company's chairman.[12] He retired in 2002.
In January 2006, Casey's purchased Lincoln, Nebraska-based Gas 'N Shop.[13] [14] [15] On August 7, 2006, Casey's agreed to purchase the 33-store HandiMart chain, based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in a $63 million deal.[16] [17]
In March 2010, Alimentation Couche-Tard (operator of several convenience store chains, including Circle K) offered $1.9 billion for control of the company, and later announced a proxy fight for control. Casey's rejected Couche-Tard's offer and was successful in September 2010 in retaining its board of directors against Couche-Tard's nominated slate.[18] [19]
While Casey's and Couche-Tard were battling for company control, in September 2010, 7-Eleven offered a $2 billion bid for control of the company. Casey's and 7-Eleven engaged in discussions, but in November 2010 elected not to proceed with a merger.[20] [21]
In April 2016, Casey's opened a distribution center in Terre Haute, Indiana, the company's second.[22] Casey's announced in 2017 that it plans to open about 10 new locations in western Ohio.[23]
Casey's announced plans in August 2018 to build a store in Huber Heights, Ohio.[24]
In 2018 Casey's announced under increasing pressure from outside investors to adopt a range of new digital initiatives including a new Fleet Card, mobile app, and loyalty program for Casey customers. The CEO announced in late 2018 the initiative would be complete by Quarter 1 of 2020.[25]
In October 2020, Casey's announced a rebranding, including a new logo and dropping 'General Stores' from its signage (though it remains in the legal corporate name).[26]
In November 2020, Casey's announced it was acquiring Omaha-based Bucky's Convenience Stores, a 94 store chain, in a $580 million deal.[27]
In April 2021, Casey's opened a third distribution center in Joplin, Missouri.[28] In May, it closed its acquisition of Buchanan Energy and became the owner of 94 Bucky's Convenience Stores.[29] As part of the deal, Casey's was ordered to divest six stores to appease regulators.[30] [31]
In September, Casey's purchased 38 Pilot Food Mart locations and two truck stop locations from Pilot Corporation. The locations in East Tennessee, around the Knoxville area, were owned by the Haslam family outright and not part of the company's national truck stop chain jointly-owned by Pilot, Berkshire Hathaway, and FJ Management.[32]
In August 2023, Casey's purchased 63 Minit Mart and Certified Oil locations in Kentucky and Middle Tennessee, with plans to convert those stores into Casey's locations.[33] [34]
In November 2023, Casey's announced plans to expand into Texas with the purchase of 22 convenience stores mainly in North Texas.[35]
In July 2024 Casey's purchased Fikes Wholesale, Inc., including its chain of CEFCO convenience stores, in a $1.145B all-cash transaction. The deal, expected to close in the 4th quarter of 2024, will add nearly 200 stores and will expand Casey's further into Texas as well as into the states of Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi.[36]
As of July 2024, Casey's has over 2,600 stores across these states (not counting the CEFCO acquisition which is in the approval stage):[37]