FARGO, N.D. -- Casey's General Stores Inc. has closed on the acquisition of the Fargo, N.D.-based Stop-n-Go chain of 24 convenience stores and has begun the rebranding process. Three Fargo-area Stop-n-Go stores will not be making the switch to Casey's, and instead will close, reported Inforum.
The Stop-n-Go stores in Wahpeton, N.D., Fergus Falls, Minn., and one location in Fargo will shutter as a result of the sale, said the report.
Bill Walljasper, senior vice president and CFO of Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey's General Stores, said the company selected the stores to close because they are near another Casey's store.
The Wahpeton store is attached to a strip mall, which was not a desirable option, and Walljasper told the newspaper that Casey's is looking for land in town to build.
That store will close on May 10, the report said. The Fargo location closed on May 6, and the Fergus Falls store will close on May 15.
Casey's will remodel many, if not all of them, adding in Casey's prepared food operation that includes fresh-made pizzas, made-to-order sub sandwiches and doughnuts.
Hoping that it will serve as a "springboard" for more expansion in the region, Casey's signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire Stop-n-Go, with 20 stores in North Dakota and four in Minnesota, Robert Myers, president and CEO, said when the deal was announced in mid-February.
Stop-n-Go was founded in 1974, when Shelly Ellig purchased the stores from Mid-America Dairies, the report said. Ellig, a noted philanthropist, died in 2010.
Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey's owns and operates approximately 1,800 c-stores in 14 Greater Midwestern states--Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, Indiana, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Tennessee. Its revenue for fiscal-year 2013 was $7.3 billion.
Click here to view the full Inforum report. And click here for a Q&A with Bill Walljasper.
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