RICHMOND, Va. -- GPM Investments LLC has closed on its purchase--originally announced in early June--of the VPS Convenience Store Group LLC Southeast division.
GPM Southeast will be based in Wilmington, N.C. It will be composed of 263 company-operated units and 33 dealer locations.
The acquisition includes the following retail brands: Scotchman, Young's, Li'l Cricket, Everyday Shop, Breadbox and Cigarette City. GPM Southeast foodservice is made up of 26 branded QSR locations and 46 proprietary delis.
Raymond James served as exclusive financial advisor to VPS in connection with the transaction.
VPS acquired the 17-store BreadBox chain, located in the greater Knoxville, Tenn., area, in late June.
Earlier this month, GPM Investments also purchased five stores that operate as Get & Zip in the Northern Neck of Virginia. With these purchases, GPM Investments will have a total of 615 stores, making it one of the largest privately owned companies in the convenience channel of business.
The company, which operates the Fas Mart and Shore Stop c-store chains, will now operate stores in Virginia, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Tennessee.
"We will continue to focus on growing this company through acquisitions," said Arie Kotler, CEO of Richmond, Va.-based GPM Investments. "This acquisition is our largest purchase to date and our most exciting."