BARNWELL, S.C. — Pops Mart Fuels LLC has acquired 14 convenience stores from Anderson Oil Co. Inc. The deal also includes one store under construction and seven wholesale fuel dealer locations.
These stores are located in and around the Columbia, Newberry and Winnsboro, S.C., markets. Pops Mart is maintaining Anderson Oil’s Barnwell, S.C., headquarters and all staff. Pops Mart Fuels, Columbia, S.C., operates 24 Shell- and 76-branded locations.
“The acquisition of Anderson Oil was a perfect fit geographically as their stores go from Columbia to the South and Pops Mart stretches from Columbia to the North,” said Pops Mart’s CEO, Don Draughon. “As part of the acquisition, Pops Mart not only added more Shell locations, but added the Exxon and BP brands to its fuel offerings. Pops Mart, with a total of 39 operating convenience stores, plans to continue its growth through acquisitions.”
Anderson Oil was an outgrowth of a small-town local general merchandise store started in 1897 on the main street of Williston, S.C. In 1915, Anderson Mercantile Store was selling bulk kerosene and gasoline purchased from Esso in Charleston. In 1930, Anderson acquired the right to sell Shell Oil products, and in 1941, became a Texaco fuel supplier. The company continued to grow the wholesale fuel business and filling station business through the 1960s and into the 1980s, when in 1981, Terrill Tuten was hired to manage the gas station side of the business and ultimately becoming a partner with Anderson Oil in 1989. In October 2004, Tuten became the owner of Anderson Oil and began the growth of the company to its present operation of 14 company-operated stores, multiple dealers and wholesale fuel business.
Terrill said the experience of beginning his career with Anderson Oil as a manager and ultimately becoming the owner of an oil company with deep roots in South Carolina “was like a dream come true. The countless friends and acquaintances of so many people over the years has been a journey that only one could dream about.” He said he plans to spend more time fishing and enjoying the company of his wife and grandchildren.
Terry Monroe, president of American Business Brokers & Advisors, Effingham, Ill., provided merger and acquisition advisory services to Pops Mart and Anderson Oil, which included advisory on valuation, negotiations and transactional closing.
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