Nouria and Enmarket were like long-lost sisters, sharing similarities from their color schemes to their building designs.
That was Nouria Founder and CEO Tony El-Nemr’s thought when Nouria acquired Enmarket in February 2025, according to John Pszeniczny, director of operations at Nouria, who spoke on Feb. 26 at CSP’s Convenience Retailing University in Austin, Texas.
A number of years ago, El-Nemr said his goal was to quadruple the size of the convenience-store chain to operate up to 600 locations, Pszeniczny said.
When Massachusetts-based Nouria Energy completed its acquisition of Enmarket convenience stores from the Colonial Group Inc., the transaction consisted of 133 Enmarket locations and 25 car washes. It expanded Nouria’s footprint to the Southeast region of the United States and nearly doubled its store count from about 150 locations to more than 300.
“It was really the joining of two sisters that excited all of us,” Pszeniczny said.
- Nouria Energy is No. 29 on CSP’s 2025 Top 202 ranking of U.S. convenience-store chains by total number of company-owned stores.
The process of acquiring Enmarket
Nouria had the benefit of experience with smaller-scale acquisitions, Pszeniczny said. The process and people involved were the same, he said. The difference with Enmarket was that the assets were about 900 miles away instead of already being within Nouria’s market.
“This is where it really challenged everyone at the support center to be open, to be honest,” Pszeniczny said. “We had to work closely together. And that's the amazing thing with [Joe Hamza, COO], [El-Nemr] and the leadership team—they really empower the directors to go out there and make sure we bring this acquisition across the finish line.”
Concerns to solve
The biggest concern for the Nouria team was assessing what would change and remain the same.
The Enmarket team questioned if Nouria would push a Northeast philosophy on operations, but the exact opposite happened, Pszeniczny said.
“They do so many things that are fantastic, and we do things in the Northeast that are equally great, and just sharing those processes was very important,” he said.
For example, Nouria’s managers were called “store managers” since 1989, but after the acquisition, the chain embraced Enmarket’s terminology of “general managers.”
“It was simple, but it meant the world to the team, and that's what's most important,” Pszeniczny said.
Everything will be Nouria branded, though, he said. That’s not a heavy lift, though, because both brands look similar.
He also said that the support center in Savannah is a critical asset to keep. Half of the category management team is in Savannah, and leadership has offices there because they frequently visit .
“It's important to keep teams there that are deep rooted in the Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina Market,” Pszeniczny said.
Where to next?
While the Enmarket acquisition elevated Nouria’s store count to 300, it still aims to grow.
When asked where he saw the company growing next, Pszeniczny said, “The Southeast is a very exciting market. If I were to have a crystal ball, I would probably say [growth] is in that market, maybe a little bit west, it could be in the Northeast as well. Our growth is going to happen. [El-Nemr] is a man of his word, and he's got an incredible leadership team, followed by everyone out in the field and everyone at the office to make his dreams come true, which would be, well, very good.”
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