RICHMOND, Va. -- GPM Investments LLC, owners of the Fas Mart, ShoreStop and Scotchman brands of convenience stores, among others, saw a dramatic end to its year with two acquisitions in December and rumors of having been among the bidders for The Pantry’s Kangaroo Express assets.
The company’s wholly owned subsidiary GPM Southeast LLC signed an agreement with Arey Oil Co. Inc. this week to acquire eight convenience stores with gasoline sales, as reported in a 21st Century Smoke/CSP Daily News Flash. This latest acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015.
The retail brand acquisition will add to GPM’s existing portfolio of convenience stores in the Southeast, a relatively new area for GPM, which moved into the markets with its 2013 acquisition of the Southeast division of VPS Convenience Store Group LLC. GPM plans to operate the former Arey Oil stores, which are located in North Carolina and South Carolina, under its Scotchman retail brand, which is currently present in markets serving both of those states and was part of the VPS deal.
GPM anticipates extending an offer to the existing operations employees of the acquired stores to join the GPM family, the company said.
“After 34 successful years in the convenience-store business, we are excited that GPM has committed to carry on our success by making these eight One Stop Food Stores an important part of their growth plan,” said Robert Arey, CEO of Arey Cos., parent company of One Stop Food Stores. “GPM is a good company with the capital and the desire to successfully grow throughout the southeast. We are very comfortable in the opportunities and future success GPM can offer our employees.”
"We are very excited to add another store acquisition in our next quarter of business," said GPM president and CEO Arie Kotler. “We have enjoyed serving our loyal customers in North and South Carolina, and we look forward to making these eight locations a new part of the GPM family.”
GPM Investments LLC is one of the largest privately owned companies in the convenience-store channel of business, currently operating 463 retail stores and 115 dealer locations. Upon completion of the One Stop Food Stores purchase, as well as a Road Ranger acquisition which is currently in progress, GPM will widen their reach to 629 stores in a total of 11 states.
GPM operates under brand names including Fas Mart, Shore Stop, Scotchman Stores, Young’s, Li’l Cricket and BreadBox. Company officials would not comment on reports GPM was among the bidders for The Pantry.
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