GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- The Sinclair Oil Corp. is leaving the retail gasoline business in Montana, at least for the time being, reported the Associated Press. The Salt Lake City-based company plans to auction off nine gas station/convenience store properties in Montana and four in Idaho later this month.
As reported in CSP Daily News, Sinclair Oil Corp. is selling 118 stations or parcels of land in several states. Sinclair has looked at some of the properties and decided they are going to reinvest in larger-sized properties, Mark London, the company's [image-nocss] retail real estate manager said.
Of the five affected properties in Great Falls, Mont., two are closed and vacant, while two others are leased to other businesses. Only one is operating as a gas station.
The move affects only stations owned by Sinclair. A number of independently owned stations that sell Sinclair gasoline will not be affected by the move.
These are all the properties we have up there in Montana, London said. We still have a lot of distributors who are operating under the Sinclair brand, including the Noon's' stations. They will still be there.
Along with the five Great Falls stations, Sinclair has one station each in Lewistown, Helena, Kalispell and Bozeman. The Kalispell station is closed and vacant.
London said Sinclair also owns a number of ranches and other property in Montana. At some point, it may choose to build or buy other retail operations in the state, he added.
The company was trying to find people to lease some of the vacant properties. We had been trying to lease them for a while, Mark Macek, a commercial real estate broker in Great Falls, told AP. We didn't have a lot of people interested in them.
London said he didn't have specific knowledge about the competitive situation among gasoline retailers in Montana. But Jeff Averill, who recently decided to close the Country Club Express, which sold Sinclair gas, said small operators are having a difficult time competing against big corporate players. Averill leased his property to Cenex Kum & Go. I know there are a lot of factors there, said London. In our locations, we never put in casinos, like Town Pump has. That's obviously a factor in the revenue situation.
The Great Falls properties, along with those in Helena and Lewistown, will be auctioned on September 26 at the Hampton Inn in Great Falls.
Sinclair stations and properties are also for sale in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.
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.