TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- After selling off six of its 11 convenience stores and gas stations last month, Florida's Stop-N-Save is hardly planning to go out of business. In fact, the now-5-store chain run by former Swifty Mart owners Jim Card and Wayne Rogers is looking to retrench with $2 million in improvements to the remaining stores.
"We're not going out of business," Card, the COO of the Stop-N-Save LLC, told the Tallahassee Democrat. "We're just selling off some of the stores. We'll just continue with the course of business activity with the [image-nocss] stores we have and move forward with our stores in Wakulla, Fla."
The renovations, to be made over the next two years, will include fuel distribution, buildings and equipment improvements, Card told the newspaper.
Meanwhile this week, the six sites that were sold in the Tallahassee, Fla., area no longer carry the Stop-N-Save name. Instead, they are operating under the Circle K banner after Canada's Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. signed an agreement last month through its subsidiary, Circle K, to purchase the stores. The deal was expected to close Monday.
Card and Rogers are selling six of the 11 stations they purchased three years ago, following the bankruptcy of the North Carolina-based Swifty Mart.
Rogers is CEO and president of the company. He also is the actor who played Trapper John in the television series M*A*S*H" and was a co-founder of Swifty Mart.
Card said Circle K approached them about the deal. Neither party will discuss the purchase price. "It seems to be the pattern in the industry now to buy out smaller operators," Card said. "This is just a normal course of the business."
About 65 of Stop-N-Save workers will be incorporated into the Circle K family. Stop-N-Save will have 35 employees.
"We think the transition has gone smoothly," Card said, adding that he was glad employees were able to stay on with Circle K.
A news release from Circle K said the transaction would add about $22 million to Couche-Tard's revenues and earnings annually. Circle K will own the land and buildings of five locations and lease the sixth.
Card would not disclose Stop-N-Save's annual revenues. He did say he and company officials, which include Philadelphia-based investment firm Lubert Adler, were pleased with the progress of the stores. They have been especially pleased with their coffee program, which has been the "cornerstone of our operation."
"Strategically, this acquisition would be an excellent fit with our current network in the Tallahassee region and would nicely complement our expansion and growth plans in both the Florida and Gulf Division and Tallahassee in particular," said Mick Parker, vice president of operations at Circle K for Florida and the Gulf.
The additional stores give Circle K 23 stores in the Tallahassee region.
On Friday, company officials were removing the Stop-N-Save name in preparation for the closing on Monday. It isn't known yet when Circle K will put up its new signs, but company officials say they are preparing to remodel the stores to reflect the new brand.
Card said that on Monday he and his staff starting at 5 a.m. would complete their inventory at the stores they are selling before turning them over to Circle K officials. "Then they will start the process to reopen them," he said.
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