''ampm'' (rarely "am/pm") is a

convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, bakkal, bodega, corner store, corner shop, superette or mini-mart is a small retail store that stocks a range of everyday items such as convenience food, groceries, beverages, tobacco products, lotter ...

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. A ...

with branches located in several U.S. states, including

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

and in several countries such as

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The brand pulled out of the Eastern United States in 2012, but returned a decade later. The ''ampm'' brand is owned by BP America, Inc., a subsidiary of BP, which acquired its founding owner,

Atlantic Richfield Company Arco may refer to: Places * Arco, Trentino, a town in Trentino, Italy * Arco, Idaho, in the United States * Arco, Minnesota, a city in the United States * ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California, home of the Sacramento Kings Companies * ARCO (bran ...

(ARCO), in 2000. In the United States, the stores are usually attached to an ARCO or BP-branded

gas station A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

. The first location opened in Southern California in 1978.

History

1978–2007

ampm is owned by a subsidiary of BP, which acquired its founding owner,

(ARCO), in 2000. The first ampm location opened in Southern California in 1978. The chain would also have a presence in the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

at ARCO locations until ARCO spun those operations off into Atlantic Petroleum in 1985, with those stores being rebranded as A-Plus. A-Plus remains owned by

Sunoco Sunoco LP is an American master limited partnership organized under Delaware General Corporation Law, Delaware state law and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Dating back to 1886, the company has transformed from a vertically integrated energy ...

(which acquired Atlantic in 1988), though all the company-owned stores were sold to

7-Eleven 7-Eleven, Inc. is an American convenience store chain, headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Seven-Eleven Japan, which in turn is owned by the retail holdings company Seven & I Holdings. The chain was founde ...

in 2018. The Japanese chain was originally established by Kyodo Oil Company (later

Japan Energy was a Japanese petroleum company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nippon Mining Holdings (now JXTG Holdings, JXTG Nippon Mining & Metals). The petroleum products of Japan Energy Corporation were sold by filling stations under the brand name JOMO ...

) in 1989; many of its stores are located within Kyodo Oil (later JOMO)

filling stations A filling station (also known as a gas station [] or petrol station []) is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold are gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Fuel dispensers are used to ...

. It remained under Japan Energy control until it was sold to Reins International Inc, an operator of

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

-style restaurants in Japan, in 2004.

2008–2011: BP Connect branding

In spring 2008, U.S. branches of the BP Connect brand of convenience stores rebranded to ''ampm'', which also brought the brand under the BP banner after exclusively being under the ARCO banner. The decision saw markets with a large BP presence, such as

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

, and

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

, face rebranding as ampm stores and TV ads."AM/PM Brand Heads East, Fueled By Owner BP’s Sponsorships"
IEG Sponsorship Report (21 April 2008) In August 2008, BP announced its decision to sell the majority of its retail operations in the

area to Apopka-based Medallion Convenience Stores. Also in 2008, the

stores were sold to Ricker Oil, which began operating them under the BP/Ricker's identity; those stores are now owned and operated by GetGo. The Pittsburgh area stores were sold to 7-Eleven; the stores alongside 7-Eleven's later acquisition of ampm spinoff A-Plus supplemented 7-Eleven's legacy locations in the area usually branded with

Exxon Exxon Mobil Corporation ( ) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Spring, Texas, a suburb of Houston. Founded as the largest direct successor of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, the modern company was form ...

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

. The

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, locations were sold to locally-based Duchess Shoppe in 2010. In November 2009,

FamilyMart is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain, and a subsidiary of Itochu, a Japanese trading company. It is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind Seven-Eleven Japan. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Malaysia, Taiwa ...

announced its acquisition of am/pm Japan."FamilyMart Acquires AMPM Japan"
''

Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'' (30 December 2009) All ''ampm'' stores in Japan then subsequently rebranded as FamilyMart.

2012–2023

In 2012, in

, both ampm and Fresh Market stores were owned by the same company. By the end of that year, there were 38 ampm locations in the country."Modern Convenience Stores are Displacing Pulperias in Costa Rica"
Jaime Lopez, '' The Costa Rica Star'' (1 June 2012) In August 2012 it was reported that BP had divested, or was planning to divest, all ampm operations East of the Rockies. In 2012, BP announced it would withdraw ampm stores from the eastern US by the end of that year, naming specifically Atlanta, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Orlando. At the time, there were 200 ampm convenience stores in BP fuel outlets in the eastern US, with 900 locations in the western US alongside BP and ARCO outlets. This occurred around the same time that BP divested ARCO itself to Tesoro Corporation and licensed the ARCO name from Tesoro for the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

and

Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...

while retaining ownership of ampm. As of 2021, BP franchises ampm to independent ARCO owners in the Southwest United States,"BP ampm Exits Eastern U.S."
Author, ''CStore Decisions'' (29 August 2012) though company-owned ampm stores in the area converted to

Speedway Speedway may refer to: Racing Race tracks *Daytona International Speedway, a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida. *Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta. *Indianapolis Motor Spe ...

following

Marathon Petroleum Marathon Petroleum Corporation is an petroleum industry in the United States, American petroleum refining, marketing, and transportation company headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. The company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Marathon Oil until a cor ...

's purchase of ARCO in 2018. In 2014, the brand was focusing on food such as "coffee, bakery, fresh sandwiches and hot foods, along with an extensive condiment bar," as well as fountain drinks and refrigerated display cases. It had a value line, "ampm Good Stuff." ampm had 950 stores overall, with headquarters in

La Palma, California La Palma (Spanish language, Spanish for "The Palm") is a city in Orange County, California, Orange County, California, United States. The population was 15,568 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 Census, up from 15,408 at the 2000 United Sta ...

, and operations in five states: Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington."BP AMERICA (AMPM)"
''CSP Daily News'' (2014) ampm was nearing its 1,000th location by November 2017."It's All About 'Mojo' for BP's ampm Division"
Melissa Kress & Danielle Romano, ''CS News'' (13 November 2017) In early 2019, BP had "recently opened its first new-to-industry ampm site" in 12 years, marking the company's 1,000th ampm location in a BP outlet."Amoco Returns for an Encore"
Peter Romeo, ''CSP Daily News'' Peter Romeo, (18 January 2018) In May 2019, Ipiranga was operating ampm stores in Brazil, with 2,500 ampm stores at gas stations in the country."Can Backseat Snacks Help Uber Take Brazil?"
Julie Walmsley, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' (20 May 2019) In 2019, BP acquired an ownership stake in rival chain Thorntons LLC, and in 2021 announced it would acquire full ownership from partner ArcLight Capital Partners. The deal would make ampm and Thorntons sister chains, though BP plans to keep operations separate. With Thorntons being primarily in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

and

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, the two chains do not overlap geographically. In August 2022, BP opened their first East Coast ampm convenience store in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

borough of

The Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

. It also marked the first time the West Coast chain had a presence in the Eastern United States since pulling out in 2012. A second

location opened in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

in 2023.

Dispersion

With the division of ARCO between BP and Tesoro, West Coast franchising rights were split between BP (Washington, Oregon and Northern California) and Tesoro subsidiary company Treasure Franchise Company LLC (Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Southern California). Franchised and BP-owned units of ''ampm'' are also found in parts of

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, usually co-located with a

Pemex Pemex (a portmanteau of Petróleos Mexicanos, which translates to ''Mexican Petroleum'' in English; ) is the Mexico, Mexican State ownership, state-owned Petroleum industry, petroleum corporation managed and operated by the government of Mexico, ...

(which is the main provider of gas in the country) and in

usually, with an Ipiranga station. In

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

they could be found in YPF/ ACA stations. In

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

they formerly operated on

Petrobras Petróleo Brasileiro S.A., better known by and Trade name, trading as the portmanteau Petrobras (), is a Brazilian state-owned enterprise, majority state-owned multinational corporation in the petroleum industry headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. ...

stations

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1978 establishments in California ARCO BP subsidiaries Convenience stores of the United States American companies established in 1978 Retail companies established in 1978 Fast-food chains of the United States Franchises