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Column for September 12, 2004
As I begin writing this column, I just got gas from
what is perhaps the last Clark gas station in the Flint area. This gas station
at G-4023 Pierson Road east of I-75 still identifies itself on my credit
card receipt as "Clark # 8374". This station was closed for a brief time
earlier this summer. The pictures I took of this station were from when this
station was closed. I don’t think Clark owns this station, but the owner
of this station is using the Clark name under license. 
On
October 15, 2002, Clark Retail Enterprises, Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection and began liquidating its assets. On June 2003, Simon Holdings,
which owns the Atlas Oil Company
(http://www.atlasoil.com),
acquired not only 23 Clark stations–it also acquired the Michigan and
Ohio rights to the Clark name. This could be the owner of the above station
I got my gas from. On July 1, 2003, Chicago-based National Real Estate
Clearinghouse held a sealed-bid auction for up to 603 Clark properties. This
was held in a "buy one, some or all" format. Most of the Clark stations in
the Flint area were acquired by Coopersville MI-based Admiral Petroleum
(http://www.admiralpetroleum.com)
which has a history of buying bankrupt gas station properties. They converted
the Clark stations they acquired into Admiral stations. They entered the
Flint market several years ago by buying some of the closed Action Auto Stores
which also sold gas. I plan on talking about Action Auto in a future column.
Clark was founded in 1932 by Emory T. Clark in Milwaukee WI. A contractor
by trade, he opened his first gas station when a client defaulted on his
loan and Clark took over the gas station he built. He built the chain in
the upper Midwest and his gas stations became well known for selling "Clark
Super 100" premium gasoline. The Clark station sign was quite a sight in
those days as the back-lit Clark logo on the roadside sign was surrounded
by racing light bulbs to attract motorists to come on in. Until the era of
unleaded gas began in the early 1970s, Clark only sold one grade of
gasoline–premium. So Clark’s slogan during the pre-unleaded gasoline
days was "Clark--The Premium People". When lead in gasoline became regulated
in the 1970s, it was easy for Clark to add a low-lead regular which was called
"The Special Regular" because the stations were already set up to sell two
grades of gas. "The Special Regular" gave way later in the 1970s to "No Lead
Clark". 
Clark bought its first refinery in 1945 and acquired a second one in 1967.
The company was sold in 1981 and the retail end suffered somewhat for the
next few years as the company went through different owners. In the mid-1990s,
Clark rejuvenated its retail operations with a new logo, a new look to its
stations and adding more convenience store items for its "On The Go" stores.
In 1999, the owners of Clark sold off its retailing and marketing assets
as well as the Clark name to concentrate on its refining and distribution
assets. The company then changed its name to Premcor
(http://www.premcor.com)
The retailing operation became Clark Retail Enterprises, Inc.
(http://www.clarkretail.com)
The company began an ambitious expansion program which unfortunately coincided
with additional competition from big box stores entering the retail gasoline
business such as Costco, Sam’s Club and Kroger which all offered discounted
gas to club or discount cardholders. This led to Clark’s aforementioned
Chapter 11 filing. The former Clark station nearest to where I live became
an Admiral station on May of 2004. Here are other links associated with this column:
Clark’s own history link is at http://www.clarkretail.com/enterprise/history.html
The Mac’s convenience store chain’s parent company, Couche-Tard Inc., also bought a few Michigan Clark stations. Couche-Tard (which recently bought Circle K so expect the former Clark stations they own to become Circle K stations) is at http://www.couche-tard.qc.ca/accueil_en.html
I’ll conclude this column by saying thanks to all who posted the kind words about this column at the Flint Town Talk message board at http://www.mlive.com/forums/flint/index.ssf which is part of http://www.mlive.com/forums/
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