FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Larger stores, higher volumes and fewer rural sites: That's the route Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Lassus Oil is looking to take as it prepares to sell off about half of its Handy Dandy convenience stores this summer.
We built a new prototype store a couple years ago, and that location is performing well, company president Todd Lassus told CSP Daily News. The new location is about 5,400 sq. ft. It has 16 fueling locations, a car wash and an extensive, branded food offering. So we're looking at those high-volume locations.
As a result, the company announced yesterday its plans to sell 22 of its 40 stores in Indiana and Ohio in the coming months. We are focusing on the future now more than ever and keeping only core stores that will serve our customers best over the long-run, said Lassus. Thinning the herd is the optimal way for us to re-invest funds back into our base business, and we have some very progressive and exciting ideas we are looking into.
The Handy Dandy stores for sale are in Fort Wayne, Decatur and Nappanee in Indiana, and in Defiance, Delta, Greenville, Hicksville, Napoleon, Sidney, Swanton, Van Wert and Wapakoneta in Ohio. One of the locations is a leasehold, and the rest are available for sale with real estate. All the locations have gasoline pumps.
Lassus, whose company also supplies gasoline to 15 dealer locations, said supply agreements are not requirements for the sales. The company is a BP and Sunoco jobber. It also has its own brand, dubbed Lassus.
The Energy Exchange is handling the sale. The availability of these stations provides a great opportunity for somebody who wants to enter the Indiana/Ohio market as a distributor or an existing distributor looking to grow their volume, said Mark Raccuia, executive vice president of The Energy Exchange. It is also a great opportunity for individual owner operators who want to purchase a profitable station in a good community with an opportunity for growth.
A growth opportunity into the lucrative oil and gas industry is just what August Lassus was thinking in 1925 when he decided to sell his coal business to build a gas station at one of Fort Wayne's busiest intersections, the corners of Wayne and Anthony streets. In the late 1970s, under the third generation of leadership, the Lassus Bros. Oil Co. expanded its core retail gasoline business, including diesel, heavy commercial-grade oil and wholesale gasoline, when it founded the Handy Dandy c-store chain.
With the sale of some of our stations, I'm following in the footsteps of my great-grandfather and looking at all opportunities to strengthen the Lassus Bros. Oil Co., said Lassus.
More information about the sale is available by contacting The Energy Exchange at (866) 906-7499 or www.energy-xchange.com. The Energy Exchange is a Chicago-based real estate firm specializing in the sale of gas stations and convenience stores nationwide.
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