SAN ANTONIO -- Tesoro Corp. shut down operations at 42 of its Mirastar gas stations outside Wal-Mart stores late last week. Another 34 Mirastar sites—part of a joint venture between Tesoro and Wal-Mart—will continue to operate. "We had 76 Mirastar locations that we began with Wal-Mart in 2000," Tesoro's vice president of corporate communications Sarah Simpson told CSP Daily News on Friday. "We just announced this week that we'd be closing 42 of those, but we'll continue to operate those remaining [34] sites."
Most of the sites closed their doors Friday, and Simpson said Tesoro [image-nocss] would begin removing tanks and pumps soon. The future use of the sites, however, will be up to Wal-Mart. "We were leasing that land from Wal-Mart, so the land will go back to Wal-Mart, and it's up to them what they do with that," she said.
As for why the sites were closed, Simpson had little comment. "It was a business decision, and we're not elaborating on that," she said, adding that the closings are not in any one region or market, but rather spread nationwide. Various newspaper reports so far show sites closing in Pittsburg, Kansas, and Rapid City, S.D.
The Mirastar location in front of the Pittsburg, Kansas, Wal-Mart, was longer be in service as of Friday, reported The Morning Sun. Signs were posted at the gasoline dispensers that the station would be closing as of August 15.
An employee of the Sun who tried to purchase a gas card at Wal-Mart was told Wal-Mart doesn't "do gas cards anymore." The gas station was unmanned and lights were out at the station when attempts were made to speak to someone at the store.
And Wal-Mart's Rapid City location close Friday, reported The Rapid City Journal.
Nobody else will move into the station, John Simley, a Wal-Mart spokesperson, told the newspaper. "This really has more to do with Tesoro than it does with Wal-Mart," he added.
The station in Rapid City is marked off with police-line style yellow tape and posted with signs directing customers with questions to call Mirastar 's main telephone number. A Wal-Mart manager said he first heard Tuesday about the station 's closing. He referred media calls to Wal-Mart 's corporate office.
Wal-Mart's main fuel partner, Murphy Oil Corp., El Dorado, Ark., operates the bulk of the big-box retailer's fuel sites, with some 970 in operation. Like Tesoro, Murphy leased the land under its Murphy USA sites on Wal-Mart's lots; however, in 2007—as reported in CSP Daily News—the integrated oil company began buying up the land under Wal-Mart sites, and by February 2008, it had purchased the plots under 730 Wal-Mart fuel sites, with plans to acquire more. Analysts labeled the move both a natural evolution and maturation of the Murphy-Wal-Mart relationship, and one that recognizes Wal-Mart's increasing interest in managing its own fuel offering. Murphy, meanwhile, has launched a standalone concept, Murphy Express, in an attempt to spread its wings beyond its partner 's shadow. (Click here forprevious coverage.)San Antonio-based Tesorohas more than 445 retail and fueling stations throughout the Western United States—the West Coast, the Rocky Mountains, the Northern Great Plains, Alaska and Hawaii. Mirastar operated in 13 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.