Friendly Express

Friendly Express, Inc. can trace its origins back to Lewis Oil Company (now Lewis and Raulerson, Inc. read more) . The first venture into the convenience store business was a small store on the outskirts of Waycross known as Shell Express. Grady Lewis and Bill Raulerson partnered together to purchase the location in 1989. From those humble beginnings, Grady Lewis was able to grow the business into a thirteen store chain by 1996. The company aquired several other convenience store chains during the 1990s, including Sunrise Foods, the Georgia Lil Champ locations, and Friendly Marts. Eventually, Shell Express gave way to Friendly Express, Inc. Today, Friendly operates thirty-three locations in southeast Georgia.