Jewel Express Gas Stations Bought by Circle K

Jewel Express gas stations in the Chicago market, including the , have been sold to the company that owns Circle K, according to a report in the online news publication Southland Savvy.

The deal was made last week between Jewel Express owner SuperValu Inc., based in Minnesota, and the Canadian Alimentation Couche-Tard/Circle K company.

Jewel Express stores were built on outlots in front of Jewel food stores starting the early 1990s, according to a Wikipedia history of the company. Of the 182 Jewel stores in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, 107 also have Jewel Express stations, the site said.

The Jewel Express in Plainfield is located at 13460 S. Route 59.

SuperValu acquired the Jewel/Osco food-drug store chain in 2006, when the company took over and broke up Jewel's parent company, Albertson's.

When the Jewel Express sale is finalized sometime this fall, it's anticipated the stores will be converted to Circle K stations.

Alimentation Couche-Tard owns 5,800 stores in North American, more than 4,100 of which also sell gas.

According to the Southland Savvy story, the sale of the gas stations was done to "raise money to strengthen other parts of its core grocery business."