Travelers through Ellsworth might notice significant changes to two gas stations in town along the Highway 10/Main Street route: Speedway has closed its doors and Holiday has transformed into Circle K.

On Monday, Sept. 30, work vans were parked outside of Speedway (176 W. Main St.) along with a roll-off dumpster as the gas station was boarded up.

In 2018, Marathon Petroleum Corp. acquired the familiar Minnesota-founded gas station brand SuperAmerica and rebranded the stores under the Speedway name. The SuperAmerica chain was founded in downtown St. Paul in 1960. Then in 2021, Marathon Petroleum Corp. sold its Speedway stores to the parent company of 7-Eleven for $21 billion in an all-cash transaction.

The Journal reached out to a media contact at 7-Eleven’s headquarters in Enon, Ohio, but did not hear back as of press time.

According to Village Administrator/Clerk-Treasurer Brad Roy, the village has not been contacted by any potential buyers inquiring about the Speedway site nor are they aware of any future plans for the site.

Village President Becky Beissel noted that the lot is zoned commercial, so any plans for anything other than a business would need to go before the village for a conditional use permit or rezone.

As for Holiday, located at the corner of Main and Maple streets in Ellsworth, workers changed out the exterior signage and canopy Monday, Sept. 30 to read Circle K.

Couche-Tard (roughly translated in French to mean night owl), a Quebec-based company, purchased the Minnesota-based Holiday from the Erickson family in 2017. Since then, Holiday stores have been carrying Circle K-branded merchandise, and employees have worn Circle K uniforms.

“We have been converting Holiday stores in certain areas to the global Circle K brand, taking a deliberate market-by-market approach. We’ve completed these conversions in select markets in several other states over the past two years…” Circle K / Couche-Tard head of global communications Chris Barnes said. “We’re mainly changing the outside with these conversions,” Barnes said

The changeover to Circle K has been happening market by market since 2022 across South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Alaska and Michigan. An employee at the Prescott Holiday, located at 236 Broad St., said that location will be switching to Circle K signage sometime this week. A River Falls Holiday employee said they have started the change in signage at their location (302 S. Main St.) and the new exterior Circle K signs should be up next week.

According to the Circle K website, the name dates back to 1951 when Fred Hervey purchased three Kay’s Food Stores in El Paso, Texas, and eventually renamed them “Circle K.” The chain was acquired by Alimentation Couche-Tard in 2003.

The Erickson family founded the Holiday brand in 1928 with stories across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The first store opened in Lindstrom, Minn. in 1939.

Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard operates in 26 countries and territories, with more than 14,100 stores. With its well-known Couche-Tard and Circle K banners, it is one of the largest independent convenience store operators in the United States, and it is a leader in the convenience store industry and road transportation fuel retail in Canada, Scandinavia and the Baltics, as well as in Ireland. It also has a presence in Poland and Hong Kong SAR.

According to the Dayton Daily News in Ohio, where 7-Eleven is based, 7-Eleven and Speedway convenience stores have received a buyout offer from Couche-Tard. Nothing has been announced on any potential sale.