Appco president and CEO Marty Anderson told the newspaper on Thursday that most of the company's 55 retail locations are now operating on an abbreviated scheduleclosing at 6:00 p.m. instead of 10:00 p.m. or midnight. Most Appco stations have [image-nocss] already exhausted their fuel supplies, and merchandise on store shelves is quickly disappearing, the report said. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage.)
Anderson said Appco's parent company, Titan Global Holdings Inc., Richardson, Texas, is working on a refinancing plan to pump funding into the local operation to allow it to restock inventory. Titan acquired Blountville, Tenn.-based Appco in September 2007.
"Our parent company is responsible for all the financing of our company, and they are diligently working on a refinance that will bring some working capital into the company," Anderson said. "Myself and everybody in this company is fighting night and day to hold the thing together.... We're waiting for refinancing. We hope it will happen any day now."
Anderson said Appco employs approximately 500 people across the region. And he's hoping to preserve those jobs. "We haven't completely shut down any stores right now. We don't want to do that. We want to protect peoples' jobsespecially in this difficult economy. That's my No. 1 priorityto protect the jobs and the livelihood of our employees," he said.
Appalachian Oil Co. was founded in 1923. It operates convenience stores in Northeast Tennessee, Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. In addition to its retail locations, Appco has been one of the Southeast's largest distributors of branded and unbranded petroleum products, serving wholesale customers in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Anderson said he's hoping for good news from his parent company soon. "As soon as they do close [financing details], we'll move toward restocking the stores and getting our inventory back, getting our customers back," he told the Times-News. "I've been here eight years, moved up in the company to the position I now hold. I've got my heart and soul in this company, and I'm doing everything I can to make sure we succeed. But at the end of the day, I need working capital."
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