NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- As reported in a CSP Daily News Flash yesterday, BP's U.S. Convenience Retail unit has announced that 146 retail sites are for sale in the Columbus, Cleveland and Pittsburgh metropolitan areas.
The offering is part of a plan announced by BP in November 2007 to sell its approximately 700 company-owned and -operated retail sites over a two-year period. BP is marketing these sites predominately as franchise-operated sites, both dealer- and jobber-owned. It will also market some sites as dealer and jobber fuel-only sites. This approach is in line with BP's strategic plans [image-nocss] to expand and grow the ampm brand to reach more consumers with its products and services.
"The ampm brand has a 30-year proven track record in some of the most competitive marketing areas in the U.S.," said Fiona MacLeod, president of BP U.S. Convenience Retail, Naperville, Ill. Franchising under the ampm brand across the U.S. just makes sense."
In mid-January, the company announced that 48 Atlanta-area sites were for sale, and in early February, it said that 78 Chicago-area sites were for sale. In mid-February, La Palma, Calif.-based BP West Coast Products LLC said that 155 sites were for sale in Arizona, California, Oregon and Washington were for sale.
Click hereto read more about BP's divestments.
Of the 146 just-announced Columbus, Cleveland and Pittsburgh sites, 121 are available for franchise, one as a debranded gasoline site, 24 as BP dealer sites (with fuel agreements only) and 12 with multiple offerings including commercial use. The franchise sites will be re-imaged or developed as ampm franchise stores with BP-branded gasoline.
BP has retained NRC Realty Advisors LLC to coordinate the sale of the 146 sites. NRC will accept offers submitted by May 28, 2008. Those interested in submitting offers to become prospective franchisees and BP dealers are required to attend a complimentary seminar in either Cleveland or Columbus, Ohio. Representatives from BP and NRC will host the seminar, which will provide essential information related to BP franchising and fuel supply and the NRC offering process. Reservations and a completed franchise application are required for attendance. Contact NRC at (800) 747-3342, ext. 805, for details and to register. The franchise application is available for download at www.nrc.com/bp.
"The ampm franchise is very strong," Fiona MacLeod noted. "The ampm franchise was the only convenience store owned by an integrated oil and gas company to make Entrepreneur's 2008 'Franchise 500,' where its West of Rockies operations ranked 35th, and the Franchise Times' Top 200, where its West of Rockies operations ranked 39th."
Diversity and inclusion continues to be an important part of BP's franchising efforts, the company added. In 2006, BP began an initiative to recruit minority franchisees, and that work will continue. "As much as possible, we want ampm stores to be owned and operated by people who live in the communities we serve," said MacLeod.
BP markets more than 15 billion gallons of gasoline every year to U.S. consumers through 13,000 retail outlets. The company is the single, global brand formed by the combination of the former British Petroleum, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Burmah Castrol. The ampm brand was founded in 1978 in Southern California by ARCO. The brand became part of BP when it acquired ARCO in 2000.
Chicago-based NRC specializes in the accelerated sale of North American commercial real estate property. With a concentration in the c-store industry, NRC provides divestiture, commercial and financial advisory real estate services. Since 1989, it has sold more than 10,000 properties. In 2006 NRC sold properties in 31 states with aggregate purchase prices in excess of $300 million. Clients have included companies in a variety of industries, including petroleum (BP, Shell and Sunoco), c-stores (White Hen, BP Connect and ampm), financial institutions (GE Capital, Bank One and Wachovia), retail (Kmart) and closely held distributorships and independent retailers.
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