With 13 convenience stores and one fueling station, Flyways Markets span across the Pacific Northwest, with stores in Washington and Oregon. Celebrating a century of history in 2025, Parent company Wilcox and Flegel has big plans for the future of Flyways.
1925, Jack Manning began Manning Fuel, selling heating oil to workers building one of the largest sawmills of the time. Steve Wilcox Sr. acquired Manning, now a local fuel distributor, in 1952. In the late 1980s, a merger acquisition led the team to pick up several convenience stores in partnership with Gary Mellema. Steve’s son, Steve Wilcox Jr. and Gary expanded the store operation up to 13, with several stores being sold and bought along the way. Wilcox and Flegel has sold fuel for more than 60 years.
Branding Makeover
When Aaron Wilcox, Steve Wilcox Jr.’s son, took over the company in 2022 as CEO, he decided to make the brand’s convenience store space bigger and bolder. Marketing Director Rick Graichen was hired to lead the marketing team, alongside a marketing agency, Pivot, based in Portland, Ore. At the time, the c-store side of the company didn’t have a common brand or name. Aaron Wilcox led the way, developing the Flyways name, and a turquoise and bright red color scheme, and established a fun mascot — a little baseball cap-wearing bird named Flip.
With many Chevron-branded stores across the country still labeled as Food Marts, Graichen was driven to create consistent and unique branding within the now-Flyways stores. Holding a small Flip plushie, Graichen said, “We felt from the very beginning that we needed a mascot as we went into the convenience store world. (Flip) is a mascot that’s fun, bright and energetic, like the experiences we seek to create.”
A graphic of Flip is in each store, featuring the mascot exploring the nearby geography: Flip is seen pulling up to the fuel tank in a car with a ‘bearcats’ license plate (a nod to the nearby high school’s sports teams), in Chehalis, Wash., fishing atop the Astoria Bridge near the Astoria, Ore. store, and on a canoe trip against the scenic Mount St. Helens in Rainier, Ore. The artwork is also available on collectible mugs and tumblers for the individual stores.
Goals for Growth
With a background in retail expansion, management and procurement at 7-Eleven and Diversified Management Group, Director of Retail Operations Don Buck joined the Flyways team in December 2024. Flyways has a huge goal for its 10-year road map: an aggressive growth plan and commitment to the Pacific Northwest. On the goal, Buck said, “Knowing what it’ll take to get there is one of the big values I believe I bring to the team.”
“We have general managers who have been with Wilcox and Flegel for 25 years, three of our general managers have been with the team for more than 23 years,” said Buck. “You don’t have that legacy of a team member sticking around for a long time when you’re not a people-driven business.”
“The Flyways brand is more than just about being a convenience store; it’s about being a retailer that has destination experiences in the store,” said Buck. “Being in the convenience store environment for so long, it’s easy to think, ‘Well, it’s just a beverage bar.’ But that’s an experience for a customer when we do it right. It’s about the teas, the coffee bar, the bubblers, the frozen dispense beverage, the backwall behind it — it’s about the experience.”
Fresh Food Refresh
Within the brand’s rebranding plan is a commitment to elevate its beverage and hot food offerings, two units already have a unique nearby restaurant, The Flipside in Kalama, Wash. and Indyway Diner in Longview, Wash. At present, The Flipside is not associated with Flyways in branding, but Buck said that pizza offerings from The Flipside menu will soon be introduced for Flyways c-store guests.
Not all Flyways stores offer foodservice, but Graichen noted foodservice expansion plans will be part of the brand’s future evolution. Currently, five stores have hot food, primarily offering fried foods, such as chicken tenders, corn dogs and hot chicken wings, but Buck said they are working to not rely as heavily on the fryer going forward. Another store has a fresh sandwich bar and burrito bar, available both in made-to-order and grab-and-go formats.
The future Flyways food program will include Flipside pizza, barbecue options, like brisket and pulled pork sandwiches, and a higher focus on grab-and-go rather than clerk service for better efficiency.
As of September 2025, the chain’s new branding plan is nearly finished. The subsequent interior refresh will include “Fuel Up & Fly” emblazoned above the hot coffee and espresso bar as well as several peppy signs for food and beverage bars, such as “Flipside Pizza,” “Brewbird Coffee,” and “Flip’s Hydration Station.” Even the restrooms will receive a signage update, now labeled “Bird Bath.”
Building Toward the Future
Half of the brand’s stores sit along Interstate 5. “We really see value in building that connection up to Northern Washington and Southern Oregon, possibly Northern California and maybe the western side of Idaho,” Buck said. “We are really looking (to attract) highway commuters, family folks, who are using the highway, and looking for some neighborhood store options.”
The team has already started rebranding its current sites to “Flyways” and establishing the proper processes to support upcoming growth. At present, Flyways is working through several leases to build up a handful of new-to-market and new-to-industry stores.
The new design changes are still being finalized, but Buck estimates that the target for completing the branding refresh is 2026. Within the next five years, says Graichen, Flyways Markets hopes to open 20 new stores.
“This is the exciting stuff of where we’re going!” said Buck. “But before we got there, we had to make sure that we had the right folks on the team — and I’m confident and know that we do — and to make sure that we had the processes in place. If you chatted with anyone on the retail team, I think they would tell you that they’re not only excited about the growth, but excited that they feel we can do it.”
