Convenience Confidential is a video series where C-Store Dive Senior Reporter Brett Dworski analyzes the biggest stories and developments shaping convenience retail. Here is an edited transcript of today’s episode. You can also find these videos on LinkedIn.
Shell announced on Tuesday that it’s agreed to acquire Southeastern convenience retailer Tri Star Energy, taking its ownership stake in the company from 33% to 100%.
The deal, once closed, will give Shell full ownership of 320 company-operated sites in Tennessee and the surrounding areas, as well as supply agreements with 552 dealer-owned locations. Shell will have essentially doubled its company-operated c-store count in the U.S., and this is by far the biggest M&A deal we’ve seen in the U.S. c-store industry so far in 2026.
But what makes this especially interesting, to me at least, is that this isn't Shell suddenly discovering Tri Star, because it already owned a third of the company prior to making this deal.
So for Shell to go from a minority investor to full owner, that’s a pretty clear signal that the company sees something it likes in Tri Star and potentially in the broader U.S. c-store industry.
In Tri Star, Shell is buying an established retail operator whose banners include Twice Daily, Sudden Service, Little General, as well as White Bison Coffee, the coffee concept that operates inside Twice Daily’s convenience stores.
Those capabilities could be just as important as Shell’s fuel business moving forward, especially as the c-store industry increasingly looks for foodservice as a way to compete with QSRs and give customers more reasons to stay on-site for longer.
Now, I’ve reached out to Shell to see whether it plans to make changes to Tri Star’s retail network once this closes, including to the banners and concepts, but I have not heard back yet.
And that's what I'll be watching closely: Does Shell keep Tri Star’s c-stores operating largely as they’ve been? Does it start converting some locations to another banner? Does it use Tri Star as a platform to launch a much larger company-operated c-store business in the Southeast? There are so many questions here.
But, regardless, the deal is another sign that major oil still sees value in owning and operating retail sites. We saw this when BP acquired TravelCenters of America a few years ago, and now Shell is making a huge investment into this space.
So, big picture, Shell’s latest deal is about the company deciding it wants to own a lot more of the customer relationship beyond fuel pumps.
And with far greater capital and resources to work with than many of its smaller competitors in the Southeast, Shell could soon emerge as a major competitive c-store threat in this part of the country.
