You Favorite Local/Area Gas Station/Convenience Stores.

[webny99]

Holiday is popular in the Midwest, Sheetz and Wawa in the Mid-Atlantic.

I'm not too picky: we don't have anything that particularly stands out around here, although Fastrac is usually pretty nice.

[TravelingBethelite]

For when I've been in the Columbia area, I've frequented Break Time, MFA's convenience store chain (incidentally, they're headquartered in Columbia). Cheap drinks and decently priced ready-to-eat options. My major gripe with them is that they seem to very capriciously change their gas prices.

[tman]

Kwik Trip wins for me, and is my preferred stop wherever they're located (much of WI and a good chunk of Minnesota).
They are simply fantastic - impeccably clean, cheap produce (bananas/potatoes/onions for 38 cents a pound), eggs/butter/milk/drinks, great service, Top Tier gas. Their only ding is that they are often the first to raise their gas prices and the last to lower.

Holiday stores are usually not bad, and I have no problem using them when I don't see a Kwik Trip. Decent hot food options, Top Tier gas, and usually clean.

I'm not a huge fan of Speedway or Casey's - the stores tend to be a bit dirtier, and the gas isn't Top Tier either. Kum and Go seem to be similar to Casey's, but in a smaller market.

A bit further south, I don't mind QT (but do prefer Kwik Trip by a long shot).

On the road, it'll usually be a local chain (Kwik Trip, Sheetz, etc.), grocery store (HyVee, Kroger) or a truck stop like Pilot/Flying J/Love's. I'll stop at a random Shell/BP/Mobil/Exxon/Conoco/Phillips 66/Chevron/Texaco/Marathon, etc. but those tend to have the potential to be much worse than corporate stores when they are a "miss". I'm not too picky as long as it's a decent chain or a branded station.

Lowest in my hierarchy would be one-off stations selling unbranded gas - Bob's Gas, River Mart Gas, etc. I'd have to be fairly low on fuel to consider those, or the gas would have to be substanitally cheaper. As far as Sam's Club and Costco are concerned, I'll stop if I'm in the area, but the lack of bathrooms/snacks/drinks at the fuel pumps means that I don't usually use them on road trips. Ditto for stores like Kroger.

[hbelkins]

I hear a lot of good things about Rutter's in central Pennsylvania. It seems to be extremely localized, though. I've never seen one, and had the bad luck to have one open up somewhere around Hollidaysburg shortly after I last passed through the area.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Kwik Trip wins for me, and is my preferred stop wherever they're located (much of WI and a good chunk of Minnesota).
They are simply fantastic - impeccably clean, cheap produce (bananas/potatoes/onions for 38 cents a pound), eggs/buttermilk/drinks, great service, Top Tier gas. Their only ding is that they are often the first to raise their gas prices and the last to lower.

Holiday stores are usually not bad, and I have no problem using them when I don't see a Kwik Trip. Decent hot food options, Top Tier gas, and usually clean.

I'm not a huge fan of Speedway or Casey's - the stores tend to be a bit dirtier, and the gas isn't Top Tier either. Kum and Go seem to be similar to Casey's, but in a smaller market.

A bit further south, I don't mind QT (but do prefer Kwik Trip by a long shot).

On the road, it'll usually be a local chain (Kwik Trip, Sheetz, etc.), grocery store (HyVee, Kroger) or a truck stop like Pilot/Flying J/Love's. I'll stop at a random Shell/BP/Mobil/Exxon/Conoco/Phillips 66/Chevron/Texaco/Marathon, etc. but those tend to have the potential to be much worse than corporate stores when they are a "miss". I'm not too picky as long as it's a decent chain or a branded station.

Lowest in my hierarchy would be one-off stations selling unbranded gas - Bob's Gas, River Mart Gas, etc. I'd have to be fairly low on fuel to consider those, or the gas would have to be substanitally cheaper. As far as Sam's Club and Costco are concerned, I'll stop if I'm in the area, but the lack of bathrooms/snacks/drinks at the fuel pumps means that I don't usually use them on road trips. Ditto for stores like Kroger.

Casey's has become a good 2B option in my book. A lot of places in MN they've replaced aging in-town stores with brand new stations.

[thspfc]

Kwik Trip without a doubt.

[jmd41280]

In SW PA, it would Sheetz, GetGo, and Speedway in that order.

[ftballfan]

In western Michigan, it would have to be Wesco. They're based in Muskegon and they go north to Benzonia, east to Lake City, and south to Coloma/Watervliet, but they also have stores in Jackson, Brooklyn, and Adrian, nowhere near any other stores.

[roadman65]

Wawa and Racetrac are mine.  Both have great items, but the former has made to order hoagies.  Racetrac tried to copy Wawa and failed, so their sandwiches are made off site and delivered to them.

I only wish QT were here in Florida as I liked them when in KS and OK and even Atlanta area have them, and next to Buc-ees in Texas, they are the second largest store that I have seen in square feet inside.

[kevinb1994]

Wawa and Racetrac are mine.  Both have great items, but the former has made to order hoagies.  Racetrac tried to copy Wawa and failed, so their sandwiches are made off site and delivered to them.

I only wish QT were here in Florida as I liked them when in KS and OK and even Atlanta area have them, and next to Buc-ees in Texas, they are the second largest store that I have seen in square feet inside.

Can't wait for Buc-ees. I agree with you on QT. Funny how there's a Race Track Road in an area filling up with...RaceTrac.

[ghYHZ]

Irving Big Stop/Circle K  They advertise 'Clean Restrooms' ......and don't make you feel like you have to buy something!

https://goo.gl/maps/xQUbaMX3e5zeYyQK6

[NWI_Irish96]

My favorite gas station is whatever is plentiful near where I live and with competitive prices and a decent rewards program. Right now that happens to be Speedway.

[thenetwork]

I travel for business a lot in the 4-Corners states (AZ being the least traveled).

At least for the moment, there are 4 big name C-stores that all meet in the region with very little overlap:

UT/CO -- Maverik
CO/NM -- Speedway
CO -- Kum & Go

And Circle K pops up here and there in the above 3 states, with more dominance that I have seen in AZ.

Down in NM and extreme Southern CO, Speedway bought up the Giant (Shell) chain and at least one other C-store chain to the point where in some towns, you could have 2 OR MORE Speedways within easy sight of each other (In Aztec, NM along US-550, there are 3 Speedways within 750 feet of each other).

As much as I like Maverik's rugged, outdoorsy look (mostly in their newer stores), I prefer Speedway over the rest because of their loyalty card deals and their $.69 fountain drinks -- especially now since most C-Stores have banned using refill cups and or free glasses of Ice Water (using a refill cup) and/or use of water fountains (where applicable) due to the COVID restrictions.

Another Speedway oddity -- off the main drag in Farmington, NM, there is a Speedway store that does NOT sell any gasoline.  Of course, the "full-service Speedways" are just a few blocks away...

[epzik8]

I hear a lot of good things about Rutter's in central Pennsylvania. It seems to be extremely localized, though. I've never seen one, and had the bad luck to have one open up somewhere around Hollidaysburg shortly after I last passed through the area.

Rutter's is headquartered in York, so a lot of them are in York County. I like the ones in Fawn Grove and Stewartstown since they're close to the state line and I used to have an easy trip up there from Maryland.

[epzik8]

I like Royal Farms, Wawa, Sheetz, Rutter's, Turkey Hill and High's.