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Since the beginning of this year, 942 stores changed hands in 14 separate deals involving the sale of 20 or more convenience stores to another c-store chain. And, that doesn't include sales to companies outside the c-store business, such as last month's acquisition of 162 Travel Centers of America locations to Hospitality Properties Trust, a Newton, Mass.-based real estate firm.
The figure also doesn't include the scores of individual c-stores being sold to new independent dealers as several of the big oil companies continue to sell off stores.
It seems that although the time may never be better to sell a store, retailers from large, multinational chains like 7-Eleven and Alimentation Couche-Tard to regional chains are not shying away from lucrative deals to grow their businesses through acquisition.
The largest acquisition, of course, was 7-Eleven's purchase in August of White Hen's 261 stores for $35 million. The deal marked the largest acquisition in eight years for the industry's largest retailer and its first under new CEO Joseph DePinto, who told Convenience Store News that strategic acquisitions, along with new builds and franchisee conversions, would be
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