High's Dairy Store

High's of Baltimore, LLC, doing business as High's Dairy Stores, is an American chain of gas stations and convenience stores based in Baltimore, Maryland. As of 2016, the chain has 45 locations, all of which are in Maryland.^[1] High's previously had stores in Virginia, Delaware and Washington, D.C. as well. High's is currently owned by the Baltimore-based Carroll Independent Fuel Company.

History

The original iteration of High's was High’s Ice Cream, an ice cream parlor founded by L.W. High in Richmond, Virginia in 1932 and purchased by James R. Gregory, Jr. with two partners in 1938, at which time there were 16 stores and an ice cream plant in Richmond. In 1941, Convenient Systems, Inc. of Winston-Salem, North Carolina purchased the chain, then numbering 50 stores. Gregory remained at the helm until 1976. The company was acquired by the Capital Milk Producers Cooperative, who grew the chain to 350 High's Dairy Stores and Restaurants, and sold the Virginia stores in 1987 to Southland Corporation, who converted them to 7-Eleven stores.

Fuel at High's gas stations was previously supplied by Shell and Citgo. High's first made a foray into proprietary fuel branding in 2011, when it was rolled out at a prototype station in Chester, Maryland.^[2] On March 1, 2012, High's, then based in Hanover, Maryland, was acquired by the Carroll Independent Fuel Company.^[3][4] Following the Carroll deal, most High's stores broke their ties with Shell and Citgo, began selling High's-branded fuel supplied by Carroll, and underwent remodels. Some High's locations continue to sell Shell-branded fuel. High's is now based in Carroll's Baltimore building.

Ice cream

The right to produce High's brand of ice cream was sold in 1989 to Kay's Ice Cream, based in Knoxville, Tennessee (which was subsequently acquired by C. F. Sauer Company in 1990). The company no longer manufactures High's brand of ice cream. Until 2010 there was a High's Ice Cream parlor remaining in Portsmouth, Virginia, but it sold Hershey's brand ice cream. At the time of its closing, it still had the original High's interior (though showing its age) including the white and black checkerboard floor tiles that High's Ice Cream stores were known for. High's still sells its own brand of ice cream in gallon containers at its stores today.

External links

• High's Dairy Stores website

References