Snappy Mart Owners Squash Sale Rumors

SILVER CITY, N.M. — While the convenience store industry is a hotbed for swirling rumors of sales, deals, mergers and acquisitions, there is one rumor that can be dispelled.

Debbie and Jim Nennich, owners of W&N Enterprises, which owns and operates 12 Snappy Marts from Deming to Silver City, N.M., said the rumors of a sale to Circle K are false, reported Silver City Daily Press.

"Circle K approached us and wanted to know if we wanted to be branded Circle K and if we wanted to buy some refurbished equipment," explained Debbie Nennich. "We told them no. We just redid the pumps — we had accidents at our pumps on Ridge Road and on Hudson Street so we got all our pumps replaced. We weren’t in need of any equipment. We accepted their card — that happened several months ago — but no, we are not selling."

Nennich explained that there is a paradigm developing in the gas industry in which large corporations are looking to buy up individually owned stations.

"In the gas industry, you have companies trying to buy up and put together groups of 500 or 1,000 stations," she explained. "We have been approached three times this year by people seeing if we want to sell and we said no."

She insisted that rumors are merely gossip and that the company is not under contract, is not selling and has no intentions of selling.

In fact, Nennich said W&N Enterprises plans to renew its leases in the buildings it doesn’t currently own. Right now, the company owns eight of the 12 buildings that house Snappy Marts. Locations not owned include: Pine Street and Columbus Road sites in Deming; Ridge Road in Silver City; and one site in Bayard, N.M., according to the news outlet.

"We had the options to buy, but chose not to," said Nennich, noting that those buildings were older.

She acknowledged that the spinning of the rumor mill has affected their business. Employees, who feared job losses, threatened to quit until they learned that the company had no intentions of selling.

"That made us feel good to know that our employees are so loyal. All of our loyal customers and our employees were very glad hear that we were not selling," Nennich added.