MOUNT AIRY, N.C. -- Eleven Neighbors convenience stores in North Carolina will change hands today when Neighbors Stores Inc. sells 11 of its 19 locations to Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc.'s Circle K Stores, said the Mount Airy News.
The stores being sold are in high-traffic areas of Surry County--Mount Airy, Pilot Mountain, Fairview and Elkin--as well as locations in Forsyth and Guilford counties, and while the company will retain other outlets locally, all will eventually be sold, Neighbors owner Gary York told the newspaper, citing increasing competition from larger corporations.
He declined to disclose the purchase price. Earlier, Neighbors sold stores in Mount Airy and Dobson to an undisclosed out-of-town group, the report said.
Circle K is purchasing stores in Mount Airy, Pilot Mountain, Fairview and Elkin, as well as locations in Forsyth and Guilford counties.
White Plains, N.C.-based Neighbors is retaining stores in Mount Airy and Flat Rock for now, although it is planning to sell them all York told the paper that he was not sure when the rest would be sold. At one time, the chain had 26 stores, the report said.
The stores collectively employ 125 people, with Circle K expected to retain those who work at the outlets it is acquiring.
Neighbors has tried to give back to the community through various charitable efforts involving schools, churches, scouting and others. York said the sale of the stores to Circle K is a result of about a two-to-three-year negotiation process, which had a goal of having them acquired by an entity that would be similarly community-minded.
"We spent a lot of time and made a commitment to find a company that would be good to the [employees] and good for the community," he added. "And I think they will be a tremendous community blessing."
The reason Circle K is acquiring only some of Neighbors' stores relates to demographics, the report said. The ones being bought conform to a certain "threshold," York said, by being located along major highways and in other high-traffic areas. "They have a model," he said. "It's a business about trying to stay ahead of roads and development."
Circle K is buying stores owned by Neighbors and assuming the leases of others. The Circle K signs won't go up immediately, but some remodeling will occur, said the report.
Along with the Neighbors stores, York said a trucking arm of the chain which transports fuel from bulk terminals in Greensboro has been sold to Petroleum Transport Co. (PTC), which is owned his brother and was started by his father. The York family launched York Oil Co. in White Plains in 1935.
York said he will maintain a business presence in Surry County in other ways. "We'll continue to have WIFM," he said of one, an FM radio station in Elkin. Another will be the CITGO service station in Dobson.
The P-Nut Butter D-Lite product associated with Neighbors Stores, produced at its site in Pilot Mountain, also will live on and be expanded to make it available to other business chains on a wholesale basis, according to York. "We're building a new kitchen in Pilot Mountain and that will be an even better product than it is today and that will continue to be part of our legacy," he told the paper.
York and his wife Charlotte, who reside in Pilot Mountain, also are to continue operating Dr. Flippin's Bed & Breakfast there and have acquired a house next door that eventually will become a small retreat/convention center, said the report.
Laval, Quebec-based Alimentation Couche-Tard, with annual revenues of more than $15,8 billion, has a c-store network of more than 5,800 stores. These stores--under three main brands, Couche-Tard, Mac's and Circle K--are located across 10 provinces of Canada in three geographic markets (East, Center and West), and across 43 American states and the District of Columbia in eight major markets (Great Lakes, Midwest, Southeast, Florida, Gulf, Arizona, West Coast and Southwest).
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