Editor’s Note: This story was edited from an earlier version to clarify the details of the transaction.
Retail Management Inc. (RMI) is in the final stages of acquiring the last piece of the accounting and IT support functions of convenience-store industry retail management services firm StrasGlobal, CSP has learned.
In December 2021, Steve Morris, who joined Austin, Texas-based StrasGlobal earlier that year and served as vice president of operations, took over ownership of the c-store operations portion of the business from Roy and Eva Strasburger and set up RMI.
When completed by the end of the year, RMI, St. Paul, Minnesota, led by Morris as CEO and co-president, will have 100% control of StrasGlobal’s former c-store operations business.
The acquisition of the accounting functions will include Stephanie Pappas, StrasGlobal’s vice president of accounting, joining RMI as part owner, co-president and chief financial officer, Morris told CSP.
While the contract store operations group of StrasGlobal has a new owner and new name, it continues to focus on helping small, independent convenience stores, Morris said.
‘Fantastic Model’
“Roy and Eva have built such a fantastic model, which I absolutely adore, and have approached the business with a ‘rising tide floats all boats’ approach,” Morris said. “They are really trying to lift up the industry with the focus on what is the biggest struggle, which is the independent and small retailers. I’m not saying this negatively, but the big guys get the press. They have all the capital infrastructure and capital money to spend; the little guys have to figure out how to compete with that.”
“Where we’re taking RMI is how do we capture those processes and those efficiencies and bring that to the small, independent operator,” Morris said, adding he’s most excited about harnessing technology and the efficiencies of scale to help these operators.
“That sounds really nerdy, but that’s really what I’m excited about.”
Roy Strasburger told CSP, “My wife, Eva, and I were very impressed with Steve’s experience and professionalism.”
“A couple of years ago, Eva and I found that we were increasingly leaving the running of the contract operations to Steve as we put more and more focus on StrasGlobal’s other businesses and interests, such as Compliance Safe, the document management software system that we developed, developing and licensing our Quix retail brand, building Resources for Retailers (RfR), and starting up the Vision Group Network with Myra Kressner,” Strasburger said.
He added that selling part of StrasGlobal is not an indication he and Eva are retiring. Rather, other ventures were taking more and more bandwidth, making the time right for the couple to transition out of the operational business and to concentrate on other areas instead.
The other areas include Strasburger presenting at conferences and appearing on podcasts, taking on court-appointed receiverships, regularly writing and contributing to articles (including for CSP), acting as an expert witness in retail-related cases and providing retail consulting expertise such as a crime reduction project for the City of Dallas, he said.
New Challenges
“After 35 fascinating years of direct-store, international and contract operations for multination oil companies and private investors, I wanted to do something that provided me with new challenges and intellectual stimulation,” Strasburger said. “However, we would not have made that transition out of contract store operations if we hadn’t had the perfect person we could trust to continue to provide a high level of service for our clients. We know Steve is the right retailer to continue our legacy.”
Morris came to StrasGlobal with 25 years of c-store experience with Speedway and SuperAmerica, where his responsibilities included strategic planning and analysis, budgeting, operations management, maintenance and construction, marketing and merchandising.
In running RMI, Morris has expanded the StrasGlobal client portfolio, Strasburger said.
“It has been rewarding to see Steve continue to grow the business and watch the success of the RMI team in delivering a professional retail operations program to any store, no matter where it is located in the U.S.,” Strasburger said.
He added that he and Eva are planning on getting back into direct retailing.
“Once a retailer, always a retailer,” he said.