Sale of DB Mart Franchises on Hold

PAWTUCKET, R.I. -- Efforts to cancel the franchises on DB Mart convenience stores have been put on hold by a Delaware court, reported WFSB.com. Franchise operators are asking for the court's help in a battle with the DB Cos. of Pawtucket, R.I. The company has filed for bankruptcy and wants the court to allow it to cancel franchise agreements with the franchisees who operate 77 of the company's 148 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York.

"We lose our total investments," said Mehar Shah, DB Mart franchisee. The investment includes the $10,000 investment fee per store and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in inventory.

The company wants to sell the stores at auction but has offered the franchises the option of buying them. The franchisees say they could not possibly afford the set price.

"We can buy but the price they give us is sky-high," said Munir Shah, franchisee. "I don't know where they got all this but then we got our localities appraised by an independent appraiser. The numbers were not even close."
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