Dive Brief:
- Blarney Castle Oil & Propane has acquired the convenience store business of fellow Michigan convenience retailer Fleming Brothers Oil Company, according to an announcement from American Business Brokers & Advisors, which coordinated the transaction.
- The deal includes 20 convenience stores located across several communities in Southwest Michigan, as well as Fleming’s fuel distribution business, according to Terry Monroe, president of American Business Brokers & Advisors.
- This marks Blarney Castle’s first publicly announced acquisition in over a year as the Michigan c-store retailer continues to expand its footprint across the state.
Dive Insight:
In addition to operating c-stores, Fleming distributes Shell- and Marathon-branded petroleum products as well as lubricants, home heating fuels and home heating accessories. It’s not clear when the company, which was founded in 1934, opened its first convenience store, although it already had 19 by the time it introduced its rewards program in 2006, per its website.
Fleming’s website notes that all of its c-stores operate under its Value Market banner and that every site offers either Shell or Marathon-branded fuel in the forecourt. Monroe said that he did not know if Blarney will rebrand those locations to its main EZ Mart banner, which includes roughly 200 sites across Michigan.
Monroe added that Fleming also previously owned a tank wagon business that was not included in this transaction. That asset, he said, was recently sold to Merle Boes, another family-owned petroleum distribution and fuel services company in Michigan.
“The transition allows the Fleming family to move into the next chapter of their lives while ensuring that the business they spent decades building will continue under experienced ownership,” American Business Brokers & Advisors wrote in its announcement.
Bear Lake, Michigan-based Blarney Castle continues to establish itself as one of the larger convenience retail players in Michigan with its EZ Mart c-store banner and EZ Fresh Market gas and grocery sites. Its acquisition of Fleming comes about a year after it acquired the 13-location c-store business of Pri Mar Petroleum, and three years following its purchase of 14 sites from Alpena Oil.
