Knockoff "K" Stores: Former Circle K Stores

[IronTiger]

So, in the 7-Eleven thread, there was a discussion on the other "K" convenience stores (like Super K), which were former Circle K stores as Circle K shrank and ultimately pulled out of the area.

 

KONFIRMED:

A 1986 article mentions a fight behind a Circle K at Newcastle and Westpark, which is now Korner Food Mart. This may have been the location that had the signage for a Circle K hot dog (link).

https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7270245,-95.4513104,3a,71.4y,333.87h,98.02t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sEp7Jd747H5N5NZA9ZAbDig!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

 

NOT A K:

West Houston Archives says the center at Highway 6 and West Road (with a Super K Food Mart) used to be a Stop N Go.

 

 

UNCONFIRMED:

Super K Food Store at Village Drive and Northwest Freeway (Valero) - former Stop N Go maybe?

Super K Food Store at 4702 Richmond (dated back to the 1950s, possibly former UtoteM)...there was a known Circle K half a mile west at Plaza on Richmond (S. Post Oak and Richmond) but if it was a UtoteM, I know those were in fairly close quarters with each other.

 

I can't edit posts so any new discoveries will just have to be in the thread itself.

[SpaceGhost]

Hey I recognize that hot dog picture!

 

Yup that was taken at Korner Food Mart just about a year ago!

[IronTiger]

17 hours ago, SpaceGhost said:

Hey I recognize that hot dog picture!

 

Yup that was taken at Korner Food Mart just about a year ago!

Can't imagine those prices would've stayed the same since the early 1990s since Circle K pulled out. I wonder why Stop-N-Go never took this one when they traded stores in 1994?

 

It appears that the store in Richmond was originally a Stop-N-Go. It looks "kinda similar" to a generic Citgo food mart off of Telephone Road that was a Stop-N-Go as well. Unfortunately, whether that Afton Oaks store was a Stop-N-Go is lost to time as it was in a pre-Internet age when it must have changed. If I had to guess, it would've been 1995-1998 when Diamond Shamrock started to purge the stores that were not attached to gas stations.

 

The Valero on Northwest Freeway is another mystery. Like Afton Oaks, I can't get information off of it from HCAD, but if it was a Stop-N-Go with Diamond Shamrock, then it should've converted to a Corner Store by now. Sure wish I could get someone who knows...

[SpaceGhost]

Yeah I don't think they've sold any hot dogs in a while.. As for why it never changed hands, I've got no idea. The only thing that I could wager was that maybe this was the front of the building and the change over occurred when the Westpark overpass was being built, and Circle K decided they didn't want to deal with relocating the entrance, windows, pumps (which they kept prior to Ike), etc..

 

I've tried to find some info on the Afton Oaks store, but I'm coming up empty handed outside of a 1953 build date.

[IronTiger]

9 hours ago, SpaceGhost said:

Yeah I don't think they've sold any hot dogs in a while.. As for why it never changed hands, I've got no idea. The only thing that I could wager was that maybe this was the front of the building and the change over occurred when the Westpark overpass was being built, and Circle K decided they didn't want to deal with relocating the entrance, windows, pumps (which they kept prior to Ike), etc..

 

I've tried to find some info on the Afton Oaks store, but I'm coming up empty handed outside of a 1953 build date.

 

The pumps look like they've always been there since the beginning (usually when pumps are taken out for whatever reason, they aren't replaced). It definitely looks like the front of the store was the main entrance at one time, but from the 1978 aerial photo, there was a large culvert on the north side of the road that eventually angles north to parallel the railroad going from east to north on the junction. This part of the culvert is still there today, but in the 1978 aerial (pre-overpass), you can see that the tanks to the north have a driveway going over it (as well as a railroad spur), the empty business east of that has a driveway going over it, but the Circle K (or whatever it was before CK, possibly UtoteM) does not. The overpass, likewise, was built also well before Circle K pulled out of the area (intact by 1989), and we know that the Circle K was a Circle K still in 1986. My guess is that entrance has been sealed over for literally decades. It sure looks like it definitely went from Circle K to Korner Food directly, so I'm guessing probably circa 1991 when Circle K was getting rid of stores in bankruptcy. I know for a fact that a number of the former Circle K stores from the UtoteM days in College Station lived on as different convenience store brands, at least for a while.

 

Also, the more I think about it, the Afton Oaks store was a Stop-N-Go, as UtoteM stores tended to be a lot smaller and dumpier, even by the 1980s. Oh, and the NW Freeway store was a Stop N Go too (the others listed eventually became Corner Store...wonder why this store got cut off...)