The Pantry Plans To Sell 80 Non-Strategic Sites
The Pantry Inc., operator of 1,647 convenience stores in 11 states, plans to sell 80 sites in the Southeast through NRC Realty & Capital Advisors LLC.
The properties include a mix of convenience stores with gas, stand-alone convenience stores, closed sites and real estate, according to NRC. Most of the stations are branded Kangaroo, Shell, Chevron, CITGO, Mobil, BP and Texaco, and are located across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
"While these sites don't fit with our company's current strategic plans, they can be excellent locations for the right buyer," Jim Bosworth, The Pantry's vice president, mergers and acquisitions, said in a statement.
The real estate and convenience stores will be sold using NRC's "buy one, some or all" sealed bid sale process.
Meanwhile, The Pantry reported progress on several initiatives during its second quarter 2010 conference call. For example, the chain is conducting site-by-site reviews of its gas business in preparation to implement KSS fuel pricing software this year.
"We've been capturing historical data at these locations," The Pantry president and CEO, Terrance M. Marks, said on the call. "The implementation of KSS has caused us to revisit our site-by-site assumptions, who is the most influential competitor, what is the acceptable gap over or under, based on a host of criteria."
And point-of-sale system upgrades that will allow basket-level analysis are ahead of schedule. Marks anticipated completion of this project by the end of May. The chain also reorganized from three to five marketing-focused operations.
In addition, the first of several stores to feature The Pantry's Fresh Initiative â which will expand the stores" foodservice menus, anchored by an upgraded Bean Street coffee program â were under construction and expected to open in June.
As part of this, a new reimaging package will be implemented in The Pantry's stores as needed, with the current Kanagroo logo replaced with an updated logo.