The LAST Tom's - Tom's #8 - Shrewsbury, PA
UPDATE (01/07/2022): The Shrewsbury Tom's has now closed, and may be replaced with a Royal Farms.
History of the Tom's chain
Tom's is a convenience store/gas station chain based in York, PA that once had stores throughout Central Pennsylvania. Created in 1994 by Shipley Energy as a way to distribute its gasoline, Tom's once operated 27 stores throughout Pennsylvania, namely in the York, Lancaster, and Harrisburg areas. But that number has since been reduced to one and a half. Around 2012, Shipley sold 14 of its 24 remaining Tom's stores to Sunoco, rebranding all of the stations and leaving just 10 Tom's stores in operation.
Stores continued to close, until around 2015 when an Exxon in Dover, PA
rebranded its gasoline pump canopy to the Tom's name (the convenience store
had already been branded as a Tom's for some time before this change), marking
the first Tom's opening in about eight years and the final Tom's expansion for
the company.
By the start of 2019, there were just four fully-operating Tom's remaining, in
Dover, Milroy, Mifflintown, and Shrewsbury, as well as the half-Tom's,
half-Sunoco in Enola. The Milroy and Mifflintown stores were sold in April
2019, both becoming Rutter's that same year. The Dover location also closed in
2019 or 2020, leaving the Shrewsbury location as the last fully-operating
Tom's by 2021.
UPDATE 08/22/21: 7-Eleven recently purchased the Sunoco A-Plus Convenience Store in Enola, Pennsylvania, and rebranded accordingly. It is now entirely 7-11.
History of the Shrewsbury Tom's
Coincidentally, the Shrewsbury/New Freedom Tom's is not only the last
operating location, but it was also the first to be built from the ground-up
(The first couple Tom's were just rebranded Mobil and Exxon stations, Shipley
owned a few of those as well). Tom's Shrewsbury opened in 1996 and by 2010 it
had earned the classification of a "Tom's Travel Center" (travel centers were
stores with extra amenities not offered by regular locations, such as diesel
fuel and truck parking).
Sometime between 2003 and 2008, this Tom's received a one-of-a-kind remodel.
The standard pink, orange, and yellow paint on the storefront and gas pump
canopy was repainted orange, and a never-seen-before Tom's logo was installed
on the building (The website didn't even use it!).
As an example, this is what the gas pump canopy at Tom's Shrewsbury would have
looked like before the "orange" remodel
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The exterior of Tom's #9 Enola, circa 2008 (and, yes, that is a Kmart in
the background) (Google Maps Streetview) |
As well as a quick decor comparison...
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| Interior of Tom's Shrewsbury (Photo by Matthew Damour on Google Maps) |
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| Interior of typical Tom's (Tom's Facebook page) |
And, as an extra bonus, here is a list and map that I compiled of all the Tom's Convenience Stores.
KEY: Open Store Proposed Store Closed Store
Awesome post here!! I love the deep dive into the history, as well as all the great content including the store list and comparison photos. Speaking of those, I think I like the orange color and more toned-down design of the newer prototype, but I can definitely see how that's a major difference from the old personality that Tom's seemed to have. Also, I like how you were able to embed that spreadsheet!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I too like the orange design; it really seems ahead of its time. I think if it was rolled out chain-wide, its simpler font and color scheme would have helped the company stay relevant.
DeleteYou're welcome! That's a good point... I wonder if the more common older design wound up hurting the company in its later years.
DeleteI have been told the Shrewsbury Pa is now closed Permanently and might become a Royal Farms.
ReplyDeleteWow. Quite an abrupt ending for a chain, but I feel that a Royal Farms would serve the community better with its selection of MTO food items and grab-n-go snacks.
DeleteThank you for this post, I had wondered what happened to them. Haven't been to one since the mid 2000s, but I noticed them close up over the years. They recently crossed my mind, and I wondered if they were all gone. I should've looked into this sooner, just missed my opportunity to visit one last time. I'll always loved that teal cat logo too.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I'm wondering if someone bought this one out and just continued operating it under the Toms name, it seems that the Tom's corporate hasn't been around since their last Facebook post in 2017.
DeleteNice write up. Your store list is very incomplete and the store numbers aren't correct for most of the stores, if you want to know where the rest of the stores were and their fates, let me know. There are about 15 stores missing from your list, Shipley owned nearly 40 stores at one point in time in the early 2000's all throughout south central PA, not all were branded as Tom's. The first convenience store opened in 1988 at the S. George St location (Store 26), that was the "flagship" store for most of the chains history. The planter under the Exxon sign at the S. George St. store was cared for by Bill Shipley's mom until the store closed. Feel free to email me at mastanhope@gmail.com if you want more info. Worked for Shipley for nearly 16 years.
ReplyDeleteMost of my information is from the Tom's website from 2009-2010 and the store numbers I got are just from the URLs for the Tom's Cafe pages for those stores. I'll send you the email, thanks for reaching out!
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