Mac's Convenience Stores (commonly known as Mac's) is a chain of

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ti ...

s in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The company was divided into three geographic business units: eastern Canada, central Canada, and western Canada. It had been owned and operated by

Alimentation Couche-Tard Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., or simply Couche-Tard, is a Canadian multinational operator of convenience stores. The company has 15,000 stores across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuani ...

since 1999. Since 2017, it served as one of Couche-Tard's two main banners in English-speaking Canada, alongside

Circle K Circle K Stores, Inc. is a Canadian chain of convenience stores headquartered in Laval, Quebec, Canada. It is owned by the multinational company Couche-Tard. Founded in 1951 in El Paso, Texas, the company filed for bankruptcy protection in ...

. The brand is currently being phased out in favour of the Circle K banner.

History

Kenneth (Ken) and Carl McGowen incorporated Mac's Milk Limited in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

on April 4, 1962. On July 5, 1963, Silverwood Dairies Limited acquired 40% of the shares of Mac's Milk Limited, and increased its holding to 80% on March 29, 1968, and 100% on January 12, 1972. In 1971, the company purchased 18 convenience stores operating under the "Little Z Convenience Stores" banner from

Zehrs Markets Zehrmart Inc. ( doing business as Zehrs Markets or simply Zehrs ), is a Canadian supermarket chain in southern Ontario. The chain has 43 locations and is a part of Loblaw Companies Limited which purchased the Zehrs chain in the mid-1970s. His ...

. In 1974, it bought thirteen Mini-Mart convenience stores in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

from a subsidiary of

George Weston Limited George Weston Limited, often referred to as Weston or Weston's, is a Canadian food processing and distribution company. Founded by George Weston in 1882, the company today consists of Weston Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary, and Loblaw Compani ...

and seven Starlite Variety Stores operating in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

The company was renamed "Mac's Convenience Stores Limited" on May 7, 1975. In 1976, Silverwood Dairies Limited purchased shares of Royal Oak Dairy, including operations of convenience stores under the Bantam and Astro names. In 1994, the company sold most of the Mac's stores in Quebec to Alimentation Couche-Tard Ltd. Mac's stores in Quebec were renamed "Dépan-Escompte Couche-Tard". Silcorp, the parent company of Mac's, acquired 163

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...

stores, and assets of rival

Becker's Becker's is a Canadian chain of independent convenience stores selling products of Alimentation Couche-Tard company. The original Becker Milk Company was founded in 1957 in Toronto, Ontario. The chain grew from 5 to 500 stores and was sold in 200 ...

in November 1996. On April 14, 1999, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. purchased Silcorp (including the Mac's and Becker's chains). Mac's dropped its longtime cat logo, and replaced it with Couche-Tard's owl logo. On September 23, 2015, Alimentation Couche-Tard announced that as part of a global re-branding, all Mac's stores would be converted to Couche-Tard's

banner; the Canadian renaming began in May 2017. Some stores across Canada continue to use the Mac's logo.

Marketing

The original

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as ...

for Mac's was a cat named MacTavish (seen below), wearing a Tam o' shanter and a

kilt A kilt ( gd, fèileadh ; Irish: ''féileadh'') is a garment resembling a wrap-around knee-length skirt, made of twill woven worsted wool with heavy pleats at the sides and back and traditionally a tartan pattern. Originating in the Scottish ...

, holding a jug of milk. Following Mac's acquisition by Couche-Tard in 1999, it was changed to the winking owl named Hibou, which was the mascot for Couche-Tard's convenience stores and gas stations in Quebec.

References

External links

Mac's – Eastern Canada official website
(archived)
Mac's – Western Canada official website
(archived) {{Convenience stores Alimentation Couche-Tard Companies based in Toronto Retail companies established in 1961 Convenience stores of Canada Dairy products companies of Canada 1961 establishments in Ontario