ALLEN COUNTY, Ind. (WANE) —Fifty years ago on Christmas Day, a man named Gus Olympidis opened his first convenience store on the west side of Valparaiso.
That was the start of Family Express, now a chain of 81 stores that offer a convenience store, gas pumps and now, car washes.
Thursday, Family Express got approval from the Allen County Plan Commission to open the company’s first two stores here – one on St. Joe Road at Mayhew Road and the other at Mayhew Road at North Clinton Street.
Fort Wayne represents an “extremely good market,” according to Thomas Niezer, Barrett McNagny’s attorney speaking Thursday for Family Express at the meeting. Family Express offers carwashes because “people like to wash their cars where they buy gas,” he said.
For the company CEO and president Olympidis, it’s a chance to bring the unique brand that Family Express offers, he said during a phone interview Thursday.
“We’re not a gas station,” Olympidis said, and he finds those two words offensive.
The Hoosier company with stores in northwest and north central Indiana operates its own bakery, producing square donuts “because we don’t cut corners” and the Megamuffin. Family Express also offers 24 types of coffee from “bean to cup,” and Cravin’s To Order food from an in-store kitchen.