SELINSGROVE, Pa. & GOLDSBORO, N.C. -- Reliance Oil has purchased 13 convenience stores from Wayne Oil Co. as the latter company narrows its business scope and assesses new opportunities, CSP Daily News has learned.
Wayne Oil Co., Goldsboro, N.C., sold all but one of its Ballpark convenience stores to the growing East Coast chain for an undisclosed price this past summer.
Reliance Oil, Selinsgrove, Pa., owns 50 branded fuel retail and c-stores in Florida, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, according to its website. The deal for the Wayne Oil stores will add North Carolina and 13 stores to Reliance's roster.
Reliance purchased its first retail facility in 1995, when President and CEO Kirit Patel entered the c-store business with a single site in Florida. The company experienced a growth spurt in 2008 with an acquisition of 10 Sunoco locations in central Pennsylvania. Other acquisitions followed, most notably the purchase of nine locations in Florida in 2009 and 15 additional locations in central Pennsylvania in 2015.
Wayne Oil President John Strickland Jr. told CSP that in addition to the single location, his company continues to own and operate its petroleum-transport company and is assessing next business moves, which he described as “Wayne Oil 2.0.”
Wayne Oil started in 1938 serving home heating oil and tobacco-curing customers. The company purchased a local Esso distributor in 1965 and started supplying service-station dealers with gasoline, tires, batteries and accessories. The company purchased its first convenience store in 1982 and bought more stores through the 1980s.
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