Fikes Wholesale Hangs For-Sale Signs on 22 Retail Sites

TEMPLE, Texas — Twenty-two retail sites across five states just hit the market.

Fikes Wholesale Inc. is selling the properties, which comprise 19 convenience stores with gas and three commercial properties.

According to NRC Realty & Capital Advisors LLC, the sites breakdown is 11 in Texas, five in Louisiana, three in Mississippi, two in Arkansas and one in Oklahoma.

Most of the Texas and Louisiana stores are located on the I-20 corridor from Longview, Texas, to Shreveport, La. Sixteen stores are currently open and operating, and six sites are closed.

Most of the stores range in size from 2,000 square feet to 4,100 square feet and are on sizeable lots. The c-stores offer major gas brands, and are being sold with or without supply, NRC added.

"Although these sites do not fit our operating model going forward, the sites will likely perform well for new operators," said Raymond Smith, president of Fikes Wholesale Inc.

Fikes tapped NRC Realty & Capital Advisors to direct the sale process.

"These are attractive properties," added Evan Gladstone, NRC's executive managing director. "With the intense consolidation in the convenience store industry, we expect spirited bidding from individual operators and local jobbers."

The properties are being sold through NRC's sealed bid sale process with bids due Dec. 4.

Temple-based Fikes is a multi-branded petroleum products marketer that has been in business for more than 65 years and currently distributes unbranded and branded fuel, including Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, CITGO, Valero and Phillips 66 to retail stations throughout the southeastern United States.

Fikes is the parent company of CEFCO, a chain of more than 200 convenience stores operating in seven states.