My wife and I were recently in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. What I’m showing you for this post is really one of the least interesting things from our little trip, but it does fit the bill for this series. Take a look at these three buildings:

In the final picture, the building on the left is a consignment shop while the one on the right is vacant. However, when I actually drove past it, it had been converted into an extension of the consignment shop, like this:

I’m sure there are more of these scattered around Pennsylvania and a few other states where these stores operate. Do you know what chain these all used to belong to? If you’re from Pennsylvania, probably; otherwise maybe not.

Here you go:

Full name: Turkey Hill Minit Market. They’re basically 7-11s. Are they related to Turkey Hill ice cream? Yes and no. They were started as a separate enterprise by the sons of the original Turkey Hill founder, and while they served, and still serve, as retail outlets for Turkey Hill products, they have always been a distinct company. Today the two Turkey Hill companies are under completely different ownership.

This model building I’ve shown you here is old, and there are newer ones. That’s probably part of why these locations were vacated, even though the general area is still full of these stores. Here are the newer models (this one goes back to at least 2008):

And here (screencapped from their Facebook page; I can’t find one of these on the map) is what I believe is their newest model building.)

It seems that the older locations without the gas stations are also more adaptable as general retail. So casting off non-gas-station locations might also have been a reason why they ended up vacant/reused.

I love a retail story, and I like to see local or regional chains that are unique to a place, and have some history there. And these little convenience stores are as good an example as any.

Related Reading:

Land Your Plane for Pizza

A Small Town With a Big Department Store

What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #27

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