convenience stores inc. type subsidiary industry retail convenience stores founded richmond hill ontario canada 1961 headquarters toronto ontario canada number of locations 5 906 number of employees 52 000 1 parent alimentation couche tard website www.macs.ca eastern canada www.mymacs.ca western canada mac s convenience stores is a chain of convenience stores in canada . the company is divided into three geographic business units eastern canada central canada and western canada and has been owned and operated by alimentation couche tard since 1999 . contents 1 history 2 mascot 3 references 4 external links history edit kenneth ken and carl mcgowen incorporated mac s milk limited in ontario on april 4 1962 . the company rebranded its stores to mac s convenience stores limited on may 7 1975 . on july 5 1963 silverwood dairies limited acquired 40 % of the shares of mac s milk limited and increased its holding to 80 % on march 29 1968 and 100 % on january 12 1972 . woodstock ontario mac s with gas station gas has since been removed at this location mac s in toronto in 1971 the company purchased 18 convenience stores operating under the little z convenience stores banner from zehrs markets . in 1974 it bought thirteen mini mart convenience stores in vancouver from a subsidiary of the weston organization and seven starlite variety stores operating in windsor . in 1976 silverwood dairies limited purchased shares of royal oak dairy including operations of convenience stores under the bantam and astro names . in 1994 the company sold most mac s stores in quebec to couche tard which later bought mac s in 1999 rebranding mac s stores in quebec as d pan escompte couche tard . silcorp the parent company of mac s acquired 163 southern ontario stores and assets of rival becker s in november 1996 . on april 14 1999 alimentation couche tard inc. purchased silcorp including the mac s and becker s brands . mac s dropped its longtime cat logo and replaced it with couche tard s owl logo . mac s retail store in edmonton alberta in may 2006 mac s introduced a memorable advertising campaign for its froster beverage . the campaign centred on the whack flavour and used double entendres involving the word such as i think i could have a whack every day if i could and humorously censored whack in the commercials . in may 2007 mac s introduced a controversial advertising campaign for its new wtf froster beverage . targeting primarily net savvy teenage boys the campaign included posters and a series of viral internet video ads . the controversy stemmed from the use of the wtf internet slang acronym what the fuck a poster of a nun and goat bowing in the presence of a cup of wtf and video ads portraying sexual innuendo and bizarre or questionable conduct . in response mac s pulled the more controversial ads and has stated that it intended wtf to refer to what s the flavour mac s stores sell seattle s best brewed coffee in western canada and a.l. van houtte coffee in quebec and in ontario under the banner name of sunshine joe . on september 23 2015 alimentation couche tard announced that as part of a global re branding all mac s stores would be re branded as circle k ; the canadian re branding will begin in may 2017 . 2 3 mascot edit the original mascot the original mascot for mac s was a cat named mactavish wearing a tam o shanter and a kilt holding a jug of milk . following mac s acquisition by couche tard in 1999 it was changed to the winking owl named hibou seen above which was the mascot for the winks chain of convenience stores and gas stations . references edit about mac s convenience stores . mac s. retrieved 2014 10 13 . mac s stores to be renamed circle k says owner couche tard . cbc news . september 22 2015 . retrieved 22 september 2015 . circle k transformation goes beyond rebranding . cspnet . retrieved 25 september 2015 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to mac s convenience stores . mac s mymac s western canada v t e convenience stores v t e major convenience stores in africa kenya national oil morocco mini brahim south africa sasol spar zimbabwe spar express v t e major convenience stores in asia east 759 store 7 eleven circle k circle k sunkus cu daily yamazaki familymart gs25 hi life lawson ministop ok mart parknshop express poplar spar storyway vango with me southeast 108 shop 7 eleven all day alfamart b s mart choices co.op food cheers circle k fairprice xpress fresh mart jiffy lawson lawson 108 familymart indomaret mini big c ministop mesra shop & go star mart tesco lotus express tops daily vango south spar west circle k spar former ampm buy the way bp connect daily stop on the run v t e major convenience stores in europe northern 7 eleven bargain booze best one bp connect budgens centra the co operative food costcutter david sands deli de luca happy shopper jones convenience stores kwik save little waitrose londis ireland londis united kingdom mace narvesen nisa on the run one stop pressbyr n r kioski mccoll s sainsbury s local scotmid spar tesco express southern couche tard mac s on the run opencor provi soir spar eastern billa cba groszek ma pka express spar abka western albert heijn carrefour city delhaize franprix march plus monoprix on the run petit casino spar former jacksons stores local plus mills morrisons m local somerfield ugo v t e major convenience stores in north america canada 7 eleven circle k cst brands couche tard irving mac s convenience stores needs convenience on the run pioneer provi soir quickie convenience stores honduras circle k mexico 7 eleven circle k oxxo super city tiendas extra united states 7 eleven a plus abc stores albertsons allsup s ampm casey s general stores cenex chevron circle k convenient food mart cst brands cumberland farms dairy barn dari mart exxon famima gate petroleum getgo getty go mart high s dairy store holiday jr. food mart jr. food stores kum & go kwik fill red apple country fair kwik trip kwik star kroger convenience stores kwik shop loaf n jug quik stop smith s express tom thumb turkey hill lawson love s travel stops & country stores mapco express minit mart mobil mart on the go on the run the pantry pdq food stores pilot flying j pilot food mart plaid pantry quality dairy company quick chek quiktrip racetrac raceway road ranger roady s truck stops royal farms rutter s sheetz speedway stewart s shops stripes convenience stores stuckey s superamerica tedeschi food shops thorntons inc. tom s convenience store town pump travelcenters of america united dairy farmers wawa food markets weigel s former becker s bp connect town & country food stores uni mart utotem white hen pantry wilco v t e major convenience stores in oceania australia 7 eleven bp connect newslink nightowl convenience stores spar express new zealand bp connect night n day woolworths gull list of convenience stores retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title mac % 27s convenience stores & oldid 718789660 categories alimentation couche tardcompanies based in torontoretail companies established in 1961convenience stores of canadadairy products companies of canada1961 establishments in ontariocanadian brandshidden categories commons category template with no category setcommons category without a link on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages fran ais edit links this page was last modified on 5 may 2016 at 16 59 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view