''''National Convenience Stores Incorporated''' ([[NYSE]]: '''NCS'''<ref>''Corporate One Thousand, Volume 5,Issues 2-4;Volume 6,Issue 2;Volume 6,Issue 4;Volume 7,Issue 1''. [[Washington Monitor]], Incorporated, 1991. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=gAYcAQAAMAAJ&q=%22National+Convenience+Stores%22+%22100+Waugh%22&dq=%22National+Convenience+Stores%22+%22100+Waugh%22&hl=EN&sa=X&ei=wO1wU_SHIsqA8gWqtYKwAg&ved=0CFQQ6AEwBg 500]. "National Convenience Stores Incorporated NYSE: NCS 100 Waugh Drive, Houston, Texas 77007 (7 13) 863-2200 Facsimile Number: (713) 880-0579 Business: National Convenience Stores operates 1076 specialty stores throughout"</ref>) is a convenience store company headquartered in [[Houston]], [[Texas]].<ref>"[http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=326913 Company Overview of National Convenience Stores Incorporated]" ([https://www.webcitation.org/6PW9OphAz?url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=326913 Archive]) ''[[Businessweek]]''. Retrieved on May 12, 2014. "100 Waugh Drive Houston, TX 77007 United States"</ref> Its primary subsidiary, '''Stop-N-Go Foods Inc.''', is/was the company controlling the convenience stores. ==History== F. J. Dyke, Jr., a former executive of the convenience store chain [[UtoteM]], purchased five [[San Antonio]] Stop N Go stores from Sommers Drug Stores and founded his own UtoteM franchise in 1959, changing the Stop N Go stores to '''UtoteM of San Antonio'''. Dyke and his [[business partners]] took control of all UtoteM locations in California in 1961. The company name changed to '''National Drive-In Grocery Corporation''' in 1962.<ref>"[https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dhn02 National Convenience Stores]." [[Handbook of Texas]]. Retrieved on May 12, 2014.</ref> In 1965 the headquarters moved to Houston. The performance of the company was good until an economic decline of the economy of Texas in the 1980s.<ref name=HassellDS>{{Cite news|author=Hassell, Greg |url=http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1995_1306995 |title=Diamond Shamrock buys Stop N Go chain |publisher=[[Houston Chronicle]] |date=9 November 1995 |page=Business 1 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130413151001/http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1995_1306995 |archivedate=April 13, 2013 }} - Available at [[NewsBank]], Record Number HSC11091306995. Available at the [[Houston Public Library]] website with a library card.</ref> Around 1987, the company bought 272 [[7-Eleven]]s in Houston from Southland Corporation for $250,000 ({{inflation|USD|250000|1987|fmt=eq|r=2}}) per store. In 1988, the company bought 79 7-Eleven stores in San Antonio. It already had 125 San Antonio stores, making it the largest operator of convenience stores in that city, before its purchase of the 7-Elevens.<ref>Benedict, Daniel. "Houston-based NCS to buy 79 San Antonio 7-Eleven stores." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. Thursday, November 3, 1988. Business p. 1. Available from [[NewsBank]], Record Number 11*03*581223. Available at the [[Houston Public Library]] website with a library card.</ref> In 1991, the company owned 986 convenience stores in the U.S. states of Texas, California, and Georgia, all operated by it as "Stop-N-Go", and it had 6,300 employees. It was the largest operator of convenience stores in Houston and San Antonio. In the [[fiscal year]] of 1991, National Convenience Stores lost $10.5 million. In the first quarter of the next fiscal year, National Convenience Stores lost $3 million. The company filed for [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection]] that year.<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/11/business/company-news-bankruptcy-for-stop-n-go.html COMPANY NEWS; Bankruptcy for Stop-N-Go]." ''[[The New York Times]]''. December 11, 1991. Retrieved on May 12, 2014.</ref> In 1992, Houston restaurateur [[Ghulam Bombaywala]] acquired one million shares, or 5%, of National Convenience Stores.<ref name=HassellAcq>Hassell, Greg. "Restaurateur buys stake in Stop N Go - Houston businessman considering acquisition of additional shares." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. Wednesday January 22, 1992. Business p. 1. Available at [[NewsBank]], Record Number 01*22*1032262. Available at the [[Houston Public Library]] website with a library card.</ref> In 1995, there were 660 Stop N Go stores, with all of them in Texas, including 396 Stop N Go stores in Houston, making it the largest convenience store chain in the city. At that time, 250 people worked in the company headquarters. In 1995, [[Diamond Shamrock]] bought Stop N Go for $260 million. The plans called for the combined company to be headquartered in San Antonio.<ref name=HassellDS/> The combined company years later became part of [[Valero Energy Corporation]]'s retail business as its CornerStore (later spun off as CST Brands, now part of [[Laval, Quebec]]-based [[Alimentation Couche-Tard]] since 2017 - as a result, Couche-Tard subsidiary [[Circle K]] (which purchased UtoteM back in 1984) now owns the retail assets of CornerStore and its past assets, which has become in fact a spiritual merger of two past UtoteM franchises (the Houston and San Antonio franchises that became Stop N Go) came full circle. In the 1990s, the company took out secret [[life insurance]] policies on employees. Upon discovering them, the families of employees killed on the job sued to get the money back. In 2002, National Convenience and [[Lloyd's of London]] settled with three families, paying them a total of $1,140,000 ({{inflation|USD|1140000|2002|fmt=eq|r=2}}).<ref>Sixel, L.M. "[http://www.chron.com/business/article/Convenience-store-chain-paying-to-settle-suits-on-2088710.php Convenience store chain paying to settle suits on secret policies]." ''[[Houston Chronicle]]''. April 19, 2002. Retrieved on May 12, 2014.</ref> ==References== {{reflist/}} Hsgehshehehejhs 562626 ==External links== * "[https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/dhn02 National Convenience Stores]" - [[Handbook of Texas]] [[Category:Convenience stores of the United States]] [[Category:American companies established in 1959]] [[Category:Retail companies established in 1959]] [[Category:Companies based in Houston]] [[Category:1959 establishments in Texas]]'