Lawson

Origins in Ohio

In 1939, dairy owner James "J.J." Lawson started a store at his Broad Boulevard dairy plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, to sell his milk. The Lawson's Milk Company grew into a chain of stores, primarily in Ohio. Lawson was bought out by Consolidated Foods in 1959.

Lawson's neighborhood convenience stores were common in Ohio from the 1960s through the mid-1980s, selling milk, bread, eggs, orange juice, and specialty items such as deli counter "chipped" style ham and sour cream potato chip dips. Locations also extended into neighboring states such as Pennsylvania, where Lawson's had a presence in the western portion of the state, including Pittsburgh.

Consolidated Foods was renamed Sara Lee in 1985. At about the same time, Lawson's stores in the United States were sold to Dairy Mart, a smaller chain of convenience stores located in Enfield, Connecticut. Dairy Mart moved its headquarters to Cuyahoga Falls, renamed the Lawson's stores, and operated the chain as Dairy Mart for the next 17 years. Dairy Mart was sued by the American Family Association, after a Dairy Mart manager in Ohio complained that the company's policy of selling pornography subjected her to sexual and religious harassment. The court case, Stanley v. Lawson Co., was seen as a test of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court ultimately ruled in favor of Lawson. In 2001, Dairy Mart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to seek a new management team and regain financial stability.

In 2002, Alimentation Couche-Tard, a Canada-based convenience store conglomerate, bought the assets and name of Dairy Mart. Most of the former Dairy Mart stores, which were either originally Lawson's stores, or were located in communities in which Lawson's once had a presence, were converted to the Circle K brand. Some independently owned Dairy Mart stores in Ohio survived independent of Circle K and continued to use the Dairy Mart name and final logo under license from Alimentation Couche-Tard. Nine stores still licensed the Dairy Mart brand as of 2022.

Circle K retains a large presence in Ohio to this day due to the enduring legacy of Lawson's, especially in Northeast Ohio and Columbus, primarily competing with Speedway. However, many of the former Lawson's stores under Dairy Mart in Pennsylvania closed during the late 1990s, and only a few survived by the time Circle K took over the locations. Much of this can be attributed to stronger competition in Pennsylvania from 7-Eleven and Altoona-based Sheetz, as well as UniMart and United Refining Company. Additionally, unlike in Ohio, Dairy Mart failed to invest in fuel sales at its Pennsylvania stores. Circle K retains a small presence in Western Pennsylvania today, but unlike Ohio is a non-factor in the area going up against Sheetz, 7-Eleven/Speedway, GetGo, and locally owned Coen Markets, though Couche-Tard would acquire GetGo in 2025 with initial plans to run it separate from Circle K.

One enduring legacy that continues to the present day of Lawson's former American presence has been its chip dip. After initially continuing under the Lawson's name in the 17 years after the stores themselves rebranded to Dairy Mart, due to demand from consumers, Couche-Tard announced that Lawson's branded chip dip would continue to be sold no matter what the name of the store. Lawson's chip dip eventually expanded to include its availability at all Circle K locations in its Great Lakes division, including at stores that were never affiliated with Lawson's/Dairy Mart, and are still sold in Lawson's-era packaging except with the Circle K logo affixed near the nutrition label for copyright purposes. Following Couche-Tard finalizing its deal to buy GetGo, GetGo also started carrying Lawson's chip dip; however, locations that had to be divested to MAPCO by order of the Federal Trade Commission stopped carrying the chip dip since it is a private label product of Circle K.

Presence in Japan

In 1974, Consolidated signed a formal agreement with The Daiei, Inc., a retail company which also ran a supermarket chain, to open the first Lawson stores in Japan. On April 15, 1975, Daiei Lawson Co., Ltd. was established as a wholly owned subsidiary of Daiei. The first store opened in Sakurazuka, Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, in June 1975. In September 1979 the official name was changed to Lawson Japan, Inc. The Mitsubishi Corporation became the main shareholder in 2001.

Lawson is one of the biggest convenience store chains in Japan, following 7-Eleven and FamilyMart. All of the usual Japanese convenience store goods, such as magazines, video games, manga, soft drinks, onigiri, pastry roulette and bento are available. Lawson has occasionally collaborated on tie-ins with various companies, including Koei's PlayStation 3 game Dynasty Warriors 7. In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, a Lawson store in author Hirohiko Araki's native Sendai was remodeled to look like the "Owson" store that appears in part 4 of the series. In late 2013, a crossover with All Japan Pro Wrestling saw Triple Crown heavyweight wrestling champion Kohei Suwama appear in ads and even work the till for a photo-op in a Tokyo location. In early 2016, a Lawson-sponsored Power Cube was introduced into the online game Ingress. DDM and Kadokawa's Kantai Collection also tapped Lawson in limited promotional materials, featuring character representations of shipgirls such as Kashima in Lawson crew outfits, whose popularity persisted long after the promo.