Alimentation Couche-Tard, parent of Circle K convenience stores, has named Amy Jenkins as global head of Circle K’s private label and owned brands, Jenkins announced via LinkedIn on Thursday.
Jenkins succeeds Rodney Blanton, who left the Canadian c-store retailer during the summer after nearly two decades to become director of category management for Amazon Go.
Representatives from Couche-Tard did not respond by press time to comment on Jenkins’ hiring.
“Looking forward to this new chapter in my career and working with this talented team,” Jenkins said in her announcement.
The move marks Jenkins’ first foray into the convenience store industry. She joins Circle K after spending over four years with home improvement retailer Lowe's Companies, including serving as its director of private brands for the past year and a half, according to her LinkedIn bio.
Prior to joining Lowe’s, Jenkins was a principal for product and business strategy consultancy Hatched Consulting for nearly six years. She’s also held product strategy and category-focused roles with numerous companies across several industries, such as textile manufacturer Springs Creative and e-commerce and product personalization company Shutterfly.
Jenkins is taking over Circle K’s global private label operations as Couche-Tard prepares to scale this part of the business. In its fiscal first quarter earnings call last month, President and CEO Alex Miller said the company plans to add over 100 private label products in the next year and will “look to continue to push those.”
Laval, Quebec-based Couche-Tard offers a variety of private label products in its Circle K stores, from branded potato chips to wine.
“We see customers choosing private label,” Miller said during the call. “Private label is growing for us high single-digits, low double-digits, in all of our geographies.”
