Irving stores to become ‘Bluecanoe’

PORTLAND – The Irving Mainway convenience stores in Maine, New Hampshire and Atlantic Canada are about to get a new name.

Canadian-based Irving Oil Ltd. has launched a plan to rebrand its 350 convenience stores, including 50 in Maine.

The Irving stores’ new name will be Bluecanoe, which doesn’t mean anything in particular but will once the company infuses the word with the meaning it wants consumers to take from it. Irving stores in Wells and Eliot this weekend will be the first to get the new name in Maine.

“Before Starbucks became all about gourmet coffee, what did it mean? Before Amazon was an online retailer, what did it mean?” asked Tim Guen, senior brand manager at Irving. “That’s a marketer’s dream, to start with an empty vessel and imbue it with meaning.”

Irving decided on a change after a survey found that only 3 percent of shoppers at the Mainway stores correctly identified the store they had just visited. More than 96 percent of customers called it “the Irving station.”

Irving also is making physical changes to its stores, including new design elements, upgraded gasoline islands and defined product offerings.