AKRON, Ohio -- The heating-up Midwest region lost a family-owned chain yesterday when, as reported in a CSP Daily News Flash, Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. announced it had, through indirect wholly owned subsidiary Mac's Convenience Stores LLC, purchased 54 stores in Ohio from Akron-based Holland Oil Co.
Begun as a single-site service station in 1954 by Charles Chuck Holland, Holland Oil opened its first c-store in 1981 and eventually grew to as many as 60 stores, according to the company's website. Attempts to reach executives at Holland Oil, which [image-nocss] was still owned and operated by the Holland family, for comment were unsuccessful.
The mostly CITGO-branded Holland Oil stores are perhaps best known locally for their Chuck's Caf a coffee offering. The 54 convenience stores currently operate under the Holland Oil and Close to Home banners. All 54 locations are company operated.
Fifty-two of the stores have CITGO branded gasoline while two are branded Gulf. There are 30 stores that have a beverage drive-thru. The majority of the locations are in the Akron/Canton metropolitan area while the remainder are within the Cleveland metropolitan area. Pursuant to this agreement, the company would buy the land and buildings for all 54 c-stores.
The purchase of the sites signals growing interest in consolidation in the Midwest. The trend is further demonstrated by 7-Eleven Inc. purchase of the White Hen c-store chain earlier this month. Also, major oils companies, including Shell and BP, have shown a desire to sell at least some of their company-owned sites in several Midwest markets.
Should the Couche-Tard/Holland transaction close as planned in September, these acquisitions would add sales of approximately $325 million to Couche-Tard's revenues and contribute to its earnings on an annualized basis, according to a Couche-Tard press release. The transaction is subject to standard regulatory approvals and closing conditions. According to a confidentiality agreement between the parties, the purchase prices cannot be disclosed. Internal cash flow dollars will pay for the transaction.
Strategically, these acquisitions would be excellent complements to our current network in the Midwest and would efficiently complement the network expansion plans, said Darrell Davis, vice president operations for the Midwest Division for Couche-Tard. Consistent with our development strategy, we selected these 54 stores based on the following criteria: prime locations, potential for growth and quality of people. Under our operation model and with the efficiency of our marketing programs, these 54 sites would contribute to improve profitability of the division. Subsequent to these transactions, our network in the Midwest Division would include a total of 692 stores.
Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., Laval, Quebec, is the third-largest c-store operator and the second-largest independent (not integrated with a petroleum company) c-store operator. Couche-Tard's network includes 5,144 c-stores, 3,180 of which include motor-fuel dispensing, located in eight large geographic markets, including three in Canada and five that cover 23 states in the United States.
Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.