Dive Brief:
- Oxxo closed seven convenience stores in the U.S. during its fiscal third quarter as the Mexican convenience store giant continues its first-ever expansion in the states, a spokesperson from parent company FEMSA confirmed on Wednesday.
- The stores were shuttered due to underperformance, the spokesperson said, adding that the decision was part of a “routine network optimization process.”
- This marks the first set of locations Oxxo has closed in the states, lowering the retailer’s U.S. store count to 242 sites across Texas, New Mexico and Arkansas.
Dive Insight:
Shuttering roughly 3% of its U.S. c-stores might be insignificant for some major retailers, but for Oxxo, the closures underscore its meticulous strategy to introduce itself to the market. The company’s leaders have spent the past year touting a “store by store, site by site, neighborhood by neighborhood” approach to its expansion, meaning that every location will be evaluated based on its community and competitive dynamics.
"This measure allows us to focus resources on areas of greatest growth and continue strengthening our operations,” FEMSA’s spokesperson said in a statement to C-Store Dive regarding the closures. “We remain fully committed to providing the best service and experience to our customers."
The closures come about a year after Oxxo acquired Delek US Holding’s c-stores and just a few weeks after it completed rebrands on about a fifth of those locations. Oxxo finished the 50th rebrand earlier this month, and is now overhauling stores in El Paso Texas, which contains one of the largest set of c-stores it acquired from Delek.
Although all but one of the former Delek sites must offer fuel as part of the acquisition agreement, Oxxo is already opening fuel-less convenience stores in some U.S. markets. Such sites are the core of FEMSA’s business outside the U.S.: Among its global network of over 20,000 sites across several countries and two continents, FEMSA only has about 780 sites across the U.S. and Mexico that offer fuel.
