The family’s first convenience store was built in Emporia, Virginia. Opening on March 18, 1996, it was designed to mirror an old 1950’s dinner, with an Amoco branded gasoline canopy, six MPD’s, a full-service Taco Bell, Subway, Dairy Queen and an Uppy’s branded convenience store. In August 1998, the Uphoffs also started their own wholesale fuels business, Southside Oil with three fuel transport tr
ucks and trailers, and four fuel oil delivery trucks in Boydton, Virginia. In June of 2010, Linda and Steve merged their convenience store company and their wholesale oil company, now with 44 company-operated Uppy’s stores and 42 Dealer served ExxonMobil and BP stations, with Catterton Partners The company grew to a combined 309 stores and dealer-served stations throughout VA, MD, and, DE. The combined annual gallons sold was over 450,000,000 gallons and 1.5 billion USD in annual revenues making Southside Oil the largest ExxonMobil fuel Distributor at the time in the United States. The partnership group eventually sold most of the Uppy’s stores and the wholesale oil company to Sunoco in October of 2013.
