Dive Brief:
- Earnheart Oil, an Oklahoma-based convenience retailer, wholesaler and transportation company, has sold its assets as part of a multipart deal, according to a press release from Downstream Energy Group, which advised Earnheart in the sale.
- The transactions included selling seven company-owned and branded c-stores in north-central Oklahoma to Perfect Food & Gas and its wholesale fuels, lubricants and transportation assets to commercial gasoline supplier Fleet Fuels LLC, according to the press release.
- Earnheart is the latest small convenience retailer to announce its departure from the industry in recent weeks, joining Beoddy Oil Company in Ohio and Fleming Brothers Oil in Michigan.
Dive Insight:
Earnheart’s sale is part of a continuing trend of smaller, family-owned companies bowing out of convenience retail as many of these operators struggle to stay afloat in today’s difficult operating economy.
Earnheart was founded in 1971 as a single full-service gas station in Marshall, Oklahoma, and has grown to its current size over the past 55 years. Two of the seven c-stores in Earnheart’s network offered quick-serve food like pizza and sandwiches, according to captures of the company’s website on the Wayback Machine archive.
Those stores will now be run by Perfect Food & Gas, which currently operates 19 stores in Northeastern Oklahoma, with another listed as opening soon, according to its website. The sites are concentrated in Tulsa and Ponca City. The retailer also offers Mazzio’s Go, a regional pizza QSR, at select locations.
Fleet Fuels, which operates in Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri, according to its website, will expand its presence in the Sooner State with the addition of Earnheart’s wholesale customer base, which spans commercial, agricultural and municipal organizations.
After the transaction, Earnheart will retain its propane delivery and service businesses.
