by 
Wiseguy
ANSWERS: 2
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Clark was one of the last full service gas station chains and sold only premium gasoline until the government mandated that all fuel be unleaded in the seventies. Founder Emory T. Clark sold the company(including the refineries) to APEX oil company in the early eighties and immediately started to convert their full service stations to self serve with conveinience stores. Most of the stations were owned by Clark and leased long term to independant dealers who carried a limited inventory Cigarettes, Ice and Soft drinks along with Clark oil products. Many dealers rebelled over the change to a conveinience store and Clark/Apex took over those locations without much success. Most of Clark's stations were in big city neighborhoods and the dealers were fixtures, A dealer knew most of his customers on a first name basis so when the self-serve came in, Customer loyalty dissapeared. The stations started dissapearing shortly after. By 2000 all Clark stations were gone. Though some stations still advertise as Clark, They have no affiliation to the Clark oil....
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Check out www.clarkbrands.com . The Clark brand was sold to a new group of investors based in Naperville, IL, who have licensed the brand to independent convenience store operators in 17 states. In my home area of Shreveport, LA there are two very busy Clark stations operating on choice corners. One replaced a local brand and the other replaced a Citgo.
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