By Jay Fitzgerald – A blog about Boston, Hub of the Universe, and everything else.


Cumberland Farms: From one of the all-time worst TV ads to IPO


Despite what it thinks, Cumberland Farms has never reached the cultural icon status achieved by other local firms in New England, like Dunkies or LL Bean, etc. But last decade the Westborough-based convenience-store chain did produce one of the all-time worst TV commercials in history, starring David Hasselhoff, and it long-ago ran an ad campaign with jingles written by Brad Delp (scroll down) of later Boston band fame, and it recently partnered up on some promotional campaign with rapper Sammy Adams, who I never heard of until a few hours ago. So I guess all of this elevates Cumberland Farms, aka Cumbys, to a level worth reporting here that its U.K. owner, EG Group, which is half owned by a U.K private equity firm (of course), has filed to take Cumberland Farms public, in case you missed the news that broke just prior to the Fourth holiday. … The BBJ and Convenience Store News have more details.

Btw — I guess CF and Dunkies don’t have enough ‘classic aesthetic’ to make this august list.

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