Kum & Go: Fueling the Fire of Convenience Store Industry

If one takes a good look at the rear view mirror, he will see how much the Kum & Go convenience stores revolutionized the ways of the industry during its 50 years of existence. This chain of stores has singlehandedly transformed the facade of the trade by doing business with unparalleled ingenuity and gutsy risk-taking.

Founded by Hampton entrepreneurs T.S. Gentle and W.A. Krause on September 1, 1959, Kum & Go was the first store ever to have conceived the gas station/convenience store idea. Starting out with just a tiny full-service gas station, it morphed into a convenience store that offered gas refills in the desire to serve its customers even better. As such, the “gas station” was dropped and was replaced with “station store”. Needless to say, the concept was a massive hit and the company grew uncontrollably, with hundreds of stores operating all over United States in less than a decade.

Today, the Kum & Go chain of stores steered itself to the heights of success and has become America’s fifth largest, company-operated, privately-held chain of convenience stores with more than 400 branches in 11 states, catering to hundreds of thousands of satisfied customers each and every day.