Founder of Greenville-based convenience store chain receives state award

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Stewart Spinks, founder and chairman of the board of The Spinx Co., received the Order of the Palmetto at the company’s 50^th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, Dec. 2 at Fluor Field in Greenville. The award was presented by Governor Henry McMaster.

The award has been given to valuable members of the community in South Carolina since 1971.

Spinks founded his business in 1972, and it since has grown to 82 convenience retail stores in the Carolinas.

“I am truly speechless at this amazing honor,” Spinks said in a news release. “This means so much to me but would not be possible without the love and support from my family and also the Spinx family.”

Spinks has been inducted into the Convenience Store News Hall of Fame and named Individual Philanthropist of the Year along with his wife, Martha Spinks.

He also has received the American Cancer Society's Susan Eison Award, is a Greenville Tech Foundation's Workforce Development honoree, and a recipient of Greenville Tech’s Entrepreneur Award. He is also a Furman University Riley Institute Diversity Fellow and a recipient of the Boy Scout-Blue Ridge Council Outstanding Leadership Award.

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