RENO, Nev. -- Two privately owned Reno, Nev., fuel supplier/retailers are combining their resources, with plans to open even more convenience store/gas stations and a truck stop in northern Nevada. Berry-Hinckley Industries and Cashell Enterprises Inc. announced an agreement to merge on Wednesday with the combined company retaining the Berry-Hinckley name.
"We are positioning ourselves to expand rapidly in northern Nevada," Paul Morabito, chairman/CEO and majority shareholder of Berry-Hinckley Industries, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "As northern [image-nocss] Nevada grows and more people come in, this company will be the dominant player."
The $45-million expansion over the next 18 months will include several new Winner's Corner stores, including two in the fast-growing Spanish Springs Valley of Sparks, Nev., three new Jiffy Lube locations, a new truck stop in Fernley, Nev., and seven as-yet-unnamed sports bars in Reno and Sparks.
Morabito said the expansion will add 350 to 500 new jobs to the combined companies' existing 1,300-employee payroll.
Cashell Enterprises began in 1967 as a truck stop west of Reno, now Boomtown, and now owns the Alamo Truckstop & Casino in Sparks and the Topaz Lodge south of Gardnerville, Nev. The expansion will also include a 13,000-square-foot addition to the Alamo site.
Robert A. Cashell II, president of Cashell Enterprises and son of Reno Mayor Bob Cashell, will become president/COO of Berry-Hinckley Industries. Cashell said the merger and expansion will create "an integrated petroleum/gaming/entertainment company unique in northern Nevada."
The companies said the gaming operations of Cashell Enterprises will remain under separate management and ownership until state regulators approve its application to merge with Berry-Hinckley. Cashell said his father, who founded Cashell Enterprises, remains a shareholder and director of the new company.
Berry-Hinckley, which first opened a gas station in Reno in 1928, was acquired by Morabito, a former investment banker, last fall.
Currently, Berry-Hinckley Industries' holdings include two fuel pipeline terminals; trucking/warehousing operations; Chevron fuels-lubricants wholesale and retail operations; 70 Western Energetix sites; 38 Winner's Corner sites; 3 car washes; 25 Chevron dealers; and 27 Jiffy Lube franchises in Reno, Sparks, Carson City and Palm Springs, Calif. Cashell Enterprises owns the Alamo Truckstop & Casino, Sparks; Topaz Lodge; and slot route operations at Berry-Hinckley Winner's Corner stores and a Las Vegas truck stop.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.