For the Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — The Canadian-based company that owns Circle K will consolidate its portfolio of brands — Circle K, Statoil, Mac’s and Kangaroo Express — under one new global brand, Circle K.
The number of Circle K stores in Hancock County will grow from three to four with the company’s purchase of Seymour-based Fast Max stores.
Sale of the company, which was comprised of 14 stores, was announced Sept. 23 by Andrea Myers, president of Kocolene Development Corp. Prior to the sale, Fast Max Convenience Stores was a division of Kocolene.
Circle K will debut a new brand identity and signage when it renovates the recently purchased Fast Max convenience stores.
The new brand has a bright red background with “CIRCLE K” in the center, with the K located in a circle on the right of the logo.
Bruce Landini, vice president of operations for Circle K’s Midwest Division, said the company examines areas where it already has business units to look at the competitors, and the Fast Max/Kocolene chain fit into the demographic of mid- to smaller-size cities.
“When these become available, we know it could be something we are interested in,” Landini said.
Circle K found the Fast Max locations attractive because each had a long history of operation, a well-established customer base and Circle K already operated stores within those areas, Landini said.
Now that the stores are purchased, Landini said Couche-Tard will evaluate each location to see what Kocolene has done and take it to the next level — with part of that being the new Circle K signage and branding.
The former Fast Max store off North State Road 9 in Greenfield had its fuel pumps and signs replaced as part of the switch.
Anytime the company builds a new location or knocks a store down and builds a new one, the new logo and branding will be put in place, Landini said.
Right now, the company is just renovating the Kocolene sites, with remodeling planned for each.
Other Fast Max locations included in the purchase are in Seymour, North Vernon, Brownstown, Madison, Salem, Columbus, Bargersville, Brazil, Bloomington, Washington, Elnora, Loogootee and Terre Haute, all in Indiana, plus a store in Cynthiana, Kentucky.