OGDEN, Utah -- Flying J has completed the last of its reorganization under bankruptcy by selling its nine convenience stores in Utah and Idaho to a Moyle Petroleum Inc., Rapid City, S.D., reported The The Standard-Examiner.
The six stores in Utah and three more in Idaho will now carry the Common Cents name, said the report. Moyle Petroleum operates 35 c-stores in South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Idaho and Utah.
Moyle's controller, Dereck Budahl, said that the name change is the only difference customers will notice. "Our intention in taking things over [image-nocss] is to maintain the status quo," he told the newspaper. "We want to provide the customers the same good service."
Common Cents is currently working to increase its share of the marketplace by upgrading existing locations, expanding operations in existing markets and developing new areas, the company said on its website.
Initially founded by Gilbert D. Moyle, president, as a wholesaler and retailer of gasoline, diesel fuel, tires, batteries and accessories in western South Dakota, Moyle Petroleum entered the convenience marketplace in 1980 by converting the majority of its gas stations to c-stores.
In a statement cited by the paper, Crystal Maggelet, president of Ogden, Utah-based FJ Management Inc., the successor company to Flying J, said the sale of the c-stores marks the end of the reorganization process.
Flying J announced its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in December 2008. (Click here for previous CSP Daily News coverage of Flying J's bankruptcy and reorganization.)
Maggelet said Flying J emerged from the bankruptcy in July, paying back creditors 100%. It merged its travel plazas on June 30 with Pilot Travel Centers LLC. With the sale of the c-stores, the company took on the name FJ Management and no longer operates any retail facilities.
FJ Management is the parent company for the Big West refinery, Transportation Alliance Bank, and the Transportation Clearing House, a fuel card processor.
Knoxville, Tenn.-based Pilot Flying J owns and operates a network of more than 550 interstate travel centers and travel plazas focused on superior customer service and enhanced offerings for professional drivers and traveling motorists. It operates in 43 states and six Canadian provinces and employs more than 20,000 people.
In other company news, Pilot Travel Centers opened a new store in Mahwah, N.J., on November 15, the company said on Facebook.
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