SALINA, Kansas -- Blue Beacon International of Salina, Kansas, is looking for a buyer for its Green Lantern convenience stores and freestanding car washes. Company president Trace Walker said employees have been informed of the potential sale.
According to The Salina Journal, the sale would include two convenience stores and car washes, as well as two freestanding self-service car washes. Also to be sold is the company's Petro 2 franchise store at Interstate Highway 70, which includes a Pizza Hut Express and a Wendy's fast-food restaurant, Walker said.
Blue Beacon owns and operates [image-nocss] more than 100 truck wash locations across the United States and Canada. The company's hotel division, Lighthouse Properties, owns and operates franchise locations for extended-stay hotels, such as Homewood Suites in Wichita and The Raphael Hotel in Kansas City's Country Club Plaza.
"There's nothing special about the timing. We just are not growing that part of our business," Walker told the newspaper. "We're focused on growing our truck washes and growing our full-service car washes and the hotel part of our business. We're not devoting as much of our company's resources and our energy to [the convenience store] business. Those employees deserve more than that."
Tom Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association of Kansas, told the Journal that with gasoline prices hovering above $3, c-stores are struggling to break even selling gasoline, or in some cases using it as a loss leader to attract customers who spend money on other items. "Gasoline sales represent about 63 percent of our overall gross sales," he said. "You need margins to be able to sell that product."
But the transaction processing fees charged by credit card companies, the cost of complying with environmental regulations and taxes cut into those profits, he added.
Walker "knows the areas where he has profit—car washes and hotels," Palace said. "What you're seeing is more and more mom and pop [stores] can't stay in the market, especially in urban areas," he said. "People will still drive and people will still buy gas, so someone will sell it. What's changed in our business is we've seen a lot of people close their doors."Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.