SPINX
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tewart Spinks knows success is not given, but earned. And for more than 45 years, the Greenville entrepreneur has fueled his company’s growth with a formula that includes hard work, perseverance, wise decisions, and one other unique quality. “Why was I able to thrive in the marketplace? Because I was willing to adapt to what the customer was telling me,” said Spinks, founder and chairman of Greenville-based Spinx Co. “Buying gas is a necessity for having mobility,” he added. “If you want something, we’re going to do our best to give it to you.” Today, Spinks’ convenience store chain has 81 locations and 1,425 employees in South Carolina. Spinx Co. has three affiliate companies, including Enigma Corp., the real estate arm of Spinx Co.; Spinx Transportation Co., a freight company that delivers to Spinx stores and other customers; and Ace Energy, a wholesale fuel company founded by Spinks’ son, Stephen “Steve” Spinks, in 2009. Steve Spinks, who became the company’s CEO in 2012, said Spinx Co.’s revenues in 2016 reached $588 million. In August, the company announced it was ranked No. 71 on Convenience Store Magazine’s Top 100 list for 2017. The annual list recognizes the nation’s largest convenience store chains. The company’s headquarters and 75 corporate employees are housed in 15,000 square feet of the Bell Plaza shopping center at 1414 E. Washington St. Across the street from Spinx Co.’s home office is a sparkling store that replaced the old Shell gas station Stewart Spinks purchased in 1972 to launch his entrepreneurial dream.
Humble beginnings
Spinks was born in 1948 in Charleston. He was raised in Augusta, Ga. His mother was the hostess at a hotel, and his father was a mechanic and a hospital orderly. Spinks said his father encouraged him to excel in the classroom. Spinks, however, enjoyed working on cars and spent plenty of time rubbing elbows with mechanics. “I could relate to a guy who had to work hard for a living,” Spinks said. In 1965, he turned down an appointment at the U.S. Military Academy and enrolled at the University of Tennessee with a football scholarship.
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Spinks earned a Bachelor of Arts in marketing in 1969 and went to work full-time for Shell Oil as a territory representative. In 1970, he arrived in Greenville after working in Atlanta and the Columbia/Florence area. “I came here as a 23-year-old and had responsibility for all of the company’s stores in Greenville,” Spinks said. “It was exciting.” He said the industry was undergoing a massive transition during the early 1970s. Major oil companies were grappling with the early stages of what later became an energy crisis, as well as moving away from a full-service model in favor of self-service stations. In July 1972, Spinks made the decision to branch out on his own. He decided to lease Shell’s worst performing station in the market at the corner of Washington Street and Laurens Road. “It was one of the stations on our disposable list, meaning it was marginal and a location the company would like to sell,” Spinks said. “It wasn’t profitable for Shell, but I saw the potential.” A few months later, in fall 1972, Spinks purchased the heating oil business of Greenville businessman Joe Foster for $50,000. He promised to pay the debt in five years. He did. In 1974, Spinks purchased the Washington Street Shell station. He then began acquiring more real estate. Between 1976 and 1981, Spinks formed Spinx Co. and grew the company to 10 stations and about 100 employees. Realizing that customer habits were changing, Spinks decided to implement a self-service island at one of his stores. He built his first self-service station at the corner of Rutherford and Shaw streets in Greenville. Spinks said he was one of the first operators in Greenville to embrace the self-service model. While his customers enjoyed cheaper gas prices that were a product of his move away from full service, Spinks said the savings his customers seemed to enjoy the most was in their time. “People were not afraid of it,” he said. “They enjoyed it. They didn’t have to wait for an attendant to come out and pump their gas.”
Adapting with the market
From the time he invested in his first store in 1972 until the energy crisis of 1979, Spinks said fuel prices at the pump increased from about 25 cents per gallon to $1.29.
9.29.2017 | upstatebusinessjournal.com
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