A strong brand isn’t just recognized—it’s remembered, and a mascot can help make that happen.
“Our mascot has got to be the coolest mascot I know. I've seen so many sporting events throughout my life, and they all have great mascots, but nobody has a skunk. Our founder started with the idea that he had a little bit of fight in him. People called him a big stinker, and we've kept that alive since then. From every corner of Idaho, people see the Stinker Stores skunk, [Polecat Pete], and think: ‘What is this skunk doing and why does he have a pair of boxing gloves?’” said Steve Cook, marketing manager at Idaho-based Stinker Stores.
“In using terms like Stinkin’, it's part of the moxie that we engulf as a company. We want [Polecat] Pete everywhere in our stores, primarily because Pete is who we are. We want people to feel [it] in the food that we sell. We want people to feel Pete in our merchandise that we offer so that when they walk away, they can take a piece of us with them,” Cook said.
The team at Stinker Stores’ headquarters also embraces the mascot and branding. “As we build our brand around Polecat Pete, which is our main focus—he’s our energy, he’s our moxie and he makes it fun—we thought, ‘What do we call our headquarters instead of a stuffy office?’ The leadership team came up with ‘skunk den.’ In our [email] signature we write… ‘I work at the skunk den,’” said Stinker Stores operations manager Felicia Pacheco.
Stinker Stores, with over 100 locations across Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming, was featured in the 2025 NACS Ideas 2 Go video series. The series captures ideas from some of the most innovative and food-forward convenience stores in the industry and debuts during a NACS Show General Session.
Watch the full video of Stinker Stores here, and check out the other 2025 Ideas 2 Go videos here.