Stewart's Shops

Stewart's Shops added a dozen locations in 2020, growing to 348 stores in upstate New York and southwestern Vermont. The growth included the November acquisition of eight stores and about 75 dealer network sites from Red-Kap Sales Inc., Schenectady, N.Y.That deal led Stewart's Shops to develop a secondary brand--Stewart's Express--for the smaller stores.

While Stewart's Shops is mostly owned by the family of chairman William Dake, employees also own approximately 40% of the company through an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

Stewart's is known regionally for its milk, ice cream, coffee, food to go, gasoline and other convenience items. The company has an extensive production, distribution and warehousing network that supplies its stores. As a result, the chain is unique in the number of products it produces in its own facilities, including 20-ounce "refresher" teas and dairy drinks.

For benchmarking purposes, store counts are as of Jan. 1, 2021.