Kristen A. Hellmer, communications and media advisor for Exxon Mobil Corp., told CSP Daily News, "The sale includes 20 CORS [company-operated retail stores] and two land banks. This transaction is consistent with our June 2008 [image-nocss] announcement that we would be transitioning a majority of our remaining company-owned stations to the distributor model."
The deal was agreed upon back in April, and since then, Sam's Mart has been gearing up to do the work, Mike Hill, operations manager, told CSP Daily News.
"We've prebuilt all the back office and preordered all the equipment and the signage, so that the day of acquisition, we were ready to rock and roll."
Work being done includes new flooring, painting and signage. Sam's Mart also carries more inventory than a typical On the Run location, according to Hill. So the company has been resetting stock, adding a lot more coolers and installing additional shelving displays.
Hill said 16 crews have been working "top to bottom" to get things up to speed. "If you go inside the stores already, they're completely revamped. They look phenomenal."
Hill said the sites also include 15 car washes, six of which are already in the process of being updated, with two systems being completely replaced. Car washes are a big focus for Sam's Mart, with the new additions bringing the company total to 65. "We very often renovate our car washes so they're all in pristine condition, so we want to get the ones we purchased up to our standards."
The stores are being rebranded as Sam's Marts, but the fuel will continue to be branded Exxon.
Hellmer added, "ExxonMobil is committed to making this conversion as smooth as possible. We don't expect this change to impact our customers and they will continue to be able to purchase the same high-quality Exxon products."
The owner and employees of Sam's Mart opened the first store in June 1991, and the company has grown steadily through acquisitions into a chain of 131 stores in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
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