VALPARAISO, Ind. — Valparaiso-based Family Express plans to acquire six Leo's Market & Eatery markets and gas stations, with the transaction expected to close later this fall subject to customary closing conditions, the companies announced Oct. 5.

Key facts

The deal

Family Express, headquartered in Valparaiso, runs about 90 stores across northwestern and central Indiana and is tied for No. 80 on CSP's 2026 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by store count, according to CSP Daily News.

Under the agreement, six Leo's stores in the Indianapolis and Lafayette areas — in Greenfield, Indianapolis, Lafayette, McCordsville and Noblesville — will take the Family Express banner after the closing, according to the Indy Star. The stores will keep selling Leo's kolaches, sandwiches, salads and prepared foods, CStore Dive reported. "We look forward to building upon that strong foundation, bringing Leo's signature products to even more customers throughout Indiana," Family Express's Gus Olympidis said in the announcement, according to CStore Dive.

A cheeseburger kolache on a plate at Leo's Market and Eatery in Indianapolis, showing its pastry shell and filling.
A cheeseburger kolache on a plate at Leo's Market and Eatery in Indianapolis, showing its pastry shell and filling. — Photo: Sarah Stierch

What Leo's keeps

Leo's keeps its Greenfield Central Commissary, which will keep baking kolaches for the rebranded stores and the full Family Express network, the Indy Star reported. With the six fuel sites off its plate, the Greenfield-based company will focus on its food program, commissary operations and catering, plus a fuel-less standalone "Leo's Eatery" concept about half the size of a traditional Leo's, according to CStore Dive and the Indy Star.

Leo's owner Stephanie White-Longworth and her brother, Keith White, opened the first Leo's in Greenfield in 2019 with a chef-inspired food program. The siblings previously built the GasAmerica convenience chain to more than 90 locations across Indiana and the Midwest before selling it to Marathon Petroleum in 2012, the Indy Star reported.

What shoppers see

For Region shoppers, the change will show up at local Family Express counters once Leo's food rolls out; the six stores changing hands are in the Indianapolis and Lafayette areas. Regional convenience players including Wawa, Wally's, Sheetz and Buc-ee's are expanding into Indiana, the Indy Star reported. "That is part of the reason that we are doing this partnership with Family Express," White-Longworth told the Indy Star.

Four homemade poppy-seed kolaches arranged on a plate, each with a dark poppy-seed filling centered in golden pastry.
Four homemade poppy-seed kolaches arranged on a plate, each with a dark poppy-seed filling centered in golden pastry. — Photo: Jonathunder

Family Express announced last year that it plans to invest about $100 million in new store development across Indiana; the companies said the Leo's agreement is separate from and additive to that plan, CSP Daily News reported.

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