TOLEDO, Ohio -- One of the convenience store industry's familiar names, which has become almost synonymous with NACS' political action committee (NACSPAC), will exit the industry early next year following the sale of his 10-store company, J.F. Enterprises Inc., to gasoline wholesaler Armada Oil & Gas Co.
I'm pretty excited about it, Bob Richard, president of J.F. Enterprises, told CSP Daily News. I had other offers, but I took the Armada deal because they wanted our office building and every human being that works for us. It makes it a lot easier [image-nocss] to move on knowing your people are taken care of.
That includes J.F. Enterprises' vice president Roy Clark, who Richard said is going to lead the new Toledo division of Armada, which is based in Dearborn. Mich. They're buying the stock and it's going to be J.F. Enterprises Inc., division of Armada, he said, and Barney's will be the store name.
The sale, which is expected to close in late August, includes 10 stores in the Toledo area and a 360 Fitness health club. I will have a six-month contract with Armada to stay on board as a contract employee to assist them in the changeover if they need me, Richard said. I wish everyone in my company and Armada the very best of luck.
Richard said he let a few select people in the industry know early this year that he was considering selling the chain. After leafing through a handful of offers, he chose Armada, a company he said he'd never heard of. Their attorneys called and said, We want to buy [your company]. What do you think?' he said. I've since met them, and they're very nice people and have done everything they said they were going to do [to make this work].
In the meantime, Richard and his wife Sandy, also a familiar face at NACS functions, began chasing a dream to move to the Rocky Mountains. Prior to the [NACS] Supplier Board meeting in Las Vegas last month, we spent the better part of the week in Colorado looking at homes, he said. We did not buy anything yet, but did settle on the Westcliffe area as the place we want to end up.
And after more than 30 years in the c-store industry, Richard reflects wistfully on the challenges the industry faces. Tobacco used to be the king dog in the c-store industry. Nowits importance has gone down because of all the taxes that have been put on it, especially at the state level, he said. Credit-card fees, that's just killing us. Gasoline at $3 a gallon? Nothing else needs to be said about that.
But those aren't the things that made Richard decide to exit the industry. No. There's always change and we've made the adjustments, he said. I guess the one issue that had some bearing on selling the stores is we were devastated last June when we had two employees shot and killed. That was bad, and I haven't gotten over that.
But there have been more good times than bad, he said, noting specifically his time as part of the NACS organization and as chairman of NACSPAC for the past four years. We've really had a ball, he said. [Sandy and I] have met so many interesting people who are now our personal friends forever on both the retailer and supplier side. We've seen the world, and I think I've done some good with NACSPAC; I hope so anyway.
Richard plans to go out with a bang during his final NACSPAC event, the annual live auction held during The NACS Show in Las Vegas. It'll be my final act, and boy, are we planning a party, he said. I urge you all to attend.
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