Strange things are afoot at a few Houston area Circle K locations as they begin to rebrand as Prime Spot. The brand is a new one, with their operations mainly consisting of wholesaling fuel prior to this point. Circle K made its reentry into Houston during a 2018 conversion spree, after purchasing the CornerStore chain of C-Stores in 2016, which had recently been spun off by Valero. Many of these Corner Store locations came from Diamond Shamrock’s acquisition of Stop n Go, with a good number of stores dating back to the 1970s as various independents. While some of these stores have been winners for Circle K, the stores dropped had some of the worst reviews in town. It appears that at least some of these may be franchised locations, and with accusations like credit card skimmers appearing at the S Main Circle K, it would make sense that they wish to drop the association. The new Primespot stores are very obviously set up under a franchise system, with a different owner in each location. The closing of these stores comes after a number of sales in the past two years, slimming down Circle K’s growing portfolio. It is likely that more locations have been sold to other parties, but at this point no major moves have been reported.