page_title: Lawson (store)
section_title: Origins in Ohio
hierarchical_section_title: Lawson (store) / History / Origins in Ohio
context_page_description: Lawson, Inc. is a convenience store franchise chain in Japan. The store originated in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, but exists today as a Japanese company.
  The company has its headquarters in East Tower of Gate City Ohsaki in Ōsaki, Shinagawa, Tokyo.
context_section_description: In 1939, dairy owner James "J.J." Lawson started a store at his Broad Boulevard dairy plant in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, to sell his milk.  The Lawson's Milk Company grew to a chain of stores, primarily in Ohio. Lawson was bought out by Consolidated Foods in 1959. Lawson's neighborhood convenience stores were common in Ohio from the 1960s through the mid-1980s, selling milk, bread, eggs, orange juice, and specialty items such as deli counter 'chipped' style ham and sour cream potato chip dips.
  Consolidated was renamed Sara Lee in 1985.  At about the same time, Lawson's stores in the United States were sold to Dairy Mart, a smaller chain of convenience stores located in Enfield, Connecticut.  Dairy Mart moved its headquarters to Cuyahoga Falls, renamed the Lawson's stores, and operated the chain as Dairy Mart for the next 17 years.  Under Dairy Mart, the chain experienced some controversy.  Dairy Mart was sued by the American Family Association, after a Dairy Mart manager in Ohio complained that the company's policy of selling pornography subjected her to sexual and religious harassment. The court case, Stanley v. Lawson Co., was seen as a test of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court ultimately ruled in favour of Lawson.
  In 2002, a Canadian-based convenience store company, Alimentation Couche-Tard of Laval, Quebec, bought the assets and name of Dairy Mart.  (The parent company's French name translates to "Night Owl Food" in English.)  Most of the former Dairy Mart stores, which were either originally Lawson's stores, or were located in communities in which Lawson's once had a presence, were converted to the Circle K brand. Due to demand from consumers, it was announced that Lawson's Chip Dip would continue to be sold no matter what the name of the store. A few independently-owned Dairy Mart stores in the Columbus, Ohio area survive as of 2020, independent of Circle K and continuing to use the Dairy Mart name and final logo under license from Alimentation Couche-Tard.
caption: A surviving Dairy Mart location in Columbus, Ohio in June 2020.
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