Appco Bankrupt Again

The struggles for the APPCO chain of convenience stores may continue, as its operating company, Sunshine Energy — which bought the chain through a bankruptcy auction in September 2009 — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Greeneville, Tenn., in early June of this year.

The action follows the repossession of some APPCO stores by its main landlord, Management Properties Inc. (MPI), which owns the land and buildings at 28 of APPCO's approximately 40 stores. The bankruptcy filing may delay efforts by MPI to find another operator to run the stores it repossessed, according to MPI executive and former APPCO CEO, Jeff Benedict.

"We were disappointed, but not surprised, to learn that Sunshine Energy had chosen to file bankruptcy," said Benedict, adding Sunshine was unable to stay current on rent payments. He had been in conversations with Sunshine's owner, Jeff Greene, a Florida-based real estate financier, to sell the stores if they could not be adequately funded.

"We are in discussions with other convenience store companies that are interested in running the stores," Benedict said in published reports. "We hope to be able to select a well-qualified tenant in the near future."

Regarding the store employees, Benedict said there were some "viable possibilities" for new ownership that might save the jobs of some APPCO employees.

"We are all concerned for the employees of the stores that have been closed and those who are anxious about what the future may bring," Benedict said. "Hopefully, Sunshine's bankruptcy filing will not significantly delay the resolution of these problems."