Casey's General Stores
Casey's General Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ: CASY) is a chain of convenience stores in the Midwestern United States. The company is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa.
Casey's was founded in 1968 by Don Lamberti, who purchased a service station in Boone, Iowa, that year and turned it into a successful convenience store. He named the chain "Casey's" after his gasoline supplier, K. C. Fish. The chain grew rapidly after that and Casey's became a publicly-traded company in 1983. As of April 1, 2005, Casey's has 1,370 stores in nine states. Most stores are company-owned, while 25 stores are operated by franchises. The chain markets itself toward smaller communities, as about three-fourths of its stores are located in cities with populations of less than 10,000. Most Casey's stores sell their own freshly-made pizza and doughnuts in addition to gasoline and other convenience store products.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, several Casey's stores in Illinois were accused of gasoline price gouging after raising their prices to as much as $5 per gallon. Casey's eventually settled a lawsuit that Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan had filed against the chain and offered refunds to customers.