SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Convenience retailer Pride Stores has put its 31 stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut and 10 sites in development up for sale, according to a report by The Republican.
- Pride Stores is No. 196 inCSP’s 2021 Top 202 ranking of the largest U.S. c-store chains.
CEO Robert Bolduc told the newspaper that he will know in six to eight weeks if he will sell and who the buyer will be. He notified his employees on June 15 of the possible sale because this stage of the process means buyers will start coming through locations evaluating operations and assets.
“We’re a family and this is the way it’s got to be,” Bolduc told the paper.
Bolduc, 77, has hired a mergers-and-acquisitions (M&A) firm, and he is hearing from potential buyers, the report said. He declined to name the prospects except to say they are big oil-and-gas companies and big-chain c-store operators.
“I’m exploring my options,” he said. “And it might not happen. Maybe I won’t find a buyer.”
The plan is to sell the whole company, retaining only a few real-estate investments, said the report.
Pride Stores did not respond to a CSP Daily News inquiry about the sale by posting time.
In 2017, Pride Stores reached the milestone of its 100th anniversary as a business. Known originally as Orchard Garage, Bolduc Bros. Proprietors, it started as a livery stable for horses and carriages in 1917. Bolduc’s grandfather repaired horse-drawn carriages. The family then began repairing automobiles, and Bolduc was among the first in the state to start a self-service gas station. Robert Bolduc founded the Pride c-store and truckstop chain in 1972.
NATSO, the national trade association representing truckstops and travel plazas, named Bolduc as the group’s chairman-elect it announced in January, and he is set to begin serving a one-year term as chairman of in January 2022. He has been an active member of NATSO since 1997 and has served several terms on the NATSO Board of Directors during his tenure with the organization. He has long been an advocate for change within the truckstop and travel plaza industry, NATSO said.
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