SuperAmerica

SuperAmerica
Subsidiary
Industry Retail (convenience stores)
Founded 1960[1]
Founder Elmer Erickson
Headquarters Woodbury, Minnesota, United States
Number of locations
 278[2]
Key people
 David L. Lamp, President and CEO
Parent Western Refining[3]
Website www.superamerica.com

SuperAmerica is a chain of gasoline stations in the upper Midwest, based in Woodbury, Minnesota. It is owned by Western Refining. The first convenience store opened in the 1960s. The company offers a rewards program for customers called "My SA Rewards."

History

SuperAmerica convenience stores first opened in the 1960s in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They were first operated by Northwestern Refining of St. Paul Park, Minnesota. SuperAmerica operates stations primarily in Minnesota, but also a number of locations in western Wisconsin and eastern South Dakota. The chain formerly operated stores in Florida, but these were sold to Shell Oil in 1993.[4]

Ashland Petroleum purchased Northwestern Refining and the SuperAmerica chain in the 1970s. Ashland had marketed full-service stations under its own "Ashland" brand. As self-service was legalized, it used the brands "Solo", "Save Mart", "Save More", and "Rich", along with others. Ashland converted most of its outlets in its core territory to "SuperAmerica", while withdrawing from Florida. It maintained a few outlets under its other brand names to keep the trademarks valid.

In 1997, Marathon and Ashland Petroleum merged, forming Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC (MAP), a joint venture combining the companies’ refining, marketing and transportation businesses, with Marathon owning 62% of the operations while Ashland owned 38%. In the process, Ashland's SuperAmerica and Marathon's Speedway LLC convenience store chains were merged to form Speedway SuperAmerica LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of MAP. SuperAmerica stores outside the upper midwest were rebranded as Speedway.

A SuperAmerica gas station in Saint Paul, Minnesota

In 2004 Marathon bought out Ashland's share. In February 2011, Marathon sold its SuperAmerica stores to Northern Tier Energy, a newly formed company backed by the private equity firms ACON Investments and TPG Capital.[5] Today Speedway and SuperAmerica are unrelated chains. SuperAmerica stores has 284 stores located with 271 in Minnesota, 11 in Wisconsin and 2 in South Dakota.[6] Northern Tier Energy went public in 2012.[7] In 2013, Western Refining bought a controlling stake in Northern Tier Energy.[8] The Marathon refinery in St. Paul Park, Minnesota was sold in 2010 to Northern Tier Energy, along with the SuperAmerica convenience store chain, separating it from Speedway. Speedway was subsequently renamed Speedway LLC. The company is a sponsor of the Twin Cities Auto Show.[9]

In 2015, employees protested at the corporate headquarters in Woodbury, Minnesota to lobby against low hourly wages and erratic employee scheduling.[10]

On October 11, 2018 it was announced on the chain's webpage that SuperAmerica locations were being rebranded as Speedway locations. This decision follows Marathon's acquisition of SuperAmerica beginning in May 2018. My SA reward card holder are encouraged to transfer their point balances to Speedy Rewards via the SuperAmerica webpage. SuperAmerica has undergone many corporate buyouts, including being associated with Speedway in the past. This is the first time since it's 1960 founding that SuperAmerica banner won't be represented at the dominant Minnesota convenience store chain.[11]

Rewards programs

SuperAmerica maintains a rewards program for customers called "My SA Rewards." Points in the program are redeemable for discounts in gasoline purchase or on other purchases in stores.[12] The rewards program offers 3 cents off per gallon of gasoline.[13] From 2011 to 2016, the company accepted the coupons of competitors gas coupons.[14] The company also offers its own credit card to reduce cost of gasoline by 5 cents per gallon. The credit card is offered to customers in partnership with the bank First Bankcard.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "About Us". SuperAmerica.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-06. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  2. ↑ "Store Locator". SuperAmerica.com. Retrieved 2016-01-11.
  3. ↑ "Corporate Profile | Northern Tier Energy". Ntenergy.com. 2014-03-31. Archived from the original on 2015-06-14. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  4. ↑ "COMPANY NEWS; SUPER AMERICA TO SELL FLORIDA SERVICE STATIONS". The New York Times. January 13, 1993.
  5. ↑ "Daily Developments: MN SuperAmerica Stores Sold Again for $248M". Tcbmag.blogs.com. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  6. ↑ Archived May 12, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "IPO Preview: Northern Tier Energy LP (NTI) - Northern Tier Energy (NYSE:NTI)". Seekingalpha.com. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  8. ↑ Spector, Mike (2013-11-11). "Western Refining Plans to Acquire Controlling Stake in Northern Tier Energy, Sources Say - WSJ". Online.wsj.com. Retrieved 2015-06-12.
  9. ↑ "Twin Cities Auto Show gets SuperAmerica sponsorship". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  10. ↑ "Workers occupy lobby of SuperAmerica headquarters". Workday Minnesota. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  11. ↑ http://m.startribune.com/superamerica-is-becoming-speedway-end-of-a-name-that-originated-at-a-st-paul-gas-station/497195131/
  12. ↑ "After five years, doubling of coupons at SuperAmerica coming to an end". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  13. ↑ "Concerns with BP create SuperAmerica convenience stores". St. Cloud Times. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  14. ↑ "Super America gas stations now accept competitors' coupons". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2017-02-27.
  15. ↑ "SUPERAMERICA® Offers New Private Label Credit Card Program in Partnership With First Bankcard®". www.businesswire.com. Retrieved 2017-02-27.

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