WEST DES MOINES, Iowa --Kum & Go LC has acquired three convenience stores in Iowa formerly operated under the name Gasby’s.
Kum & Go, a privately held company, would not disclose the financial details of the transaction.
Gasby's owner KLB Bauer Inc. is retaining one location, a Kum & Go spokesperson told CSP Daily News.
Two stores in Iowa City will be rebranded and begin operations immediately under the Kum & Go brand. The company will close and demolish and rebuild the Coralville store. Kum & Go anticipates that it will re-open in late 2015.
"We acquired these stores because the Iowa City-Coralville area is a growing community and a great market for Kum & Go," Kristie Bell, another Kum & Go spokesperson, said. "With this acquisition, we have the opportunity to provide more convenience to more customers in more locations in the area."
When all construction is complete by the end of 2015, Kum & Go will have a total of nine locations serving the Iowa City-Coralville area, the company said. It anticipates construction of a new store in Coralville to be completed in early fall; it has slated another Coralville store to be rebuilt beginning this month with an expected late-2015 re-open date.
Kum & Go now has 156 convenience stores throughout Iowa, the company said.
Gasby’s owner Brett Bauer said he has been negotiating the sale of the stores for about the last two years, and said his focus will now shift to the North Liberty location, which will remain open.
“This was more of a life change than anything else. Gasby’s began in 1991, and I started soon after that so I’ve been in the business for a long time. I just wanted to slow down a little bit,” he told The Iowa City Press-Citizen.
The West Des Moines, Iowa-based convenience-store chain has more than 430 stores in 11 states: Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.
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