Stripes adds 168 stores

CORPUS CHRISTI - The Corpus Christi-based Stripes convenience store chain will grow by 168 stores in Texas and New Mexico. Susser Holdings Corp., parent company of the chain, has signed an agreement to acquire San Angelo-based Town &amp; Country Food Stores for about $361 million.

Sam L. Susser, Susser's president and CEO, said this is the largest dollar and store-count acquisition in the company's history. The company, in business since 1938, went public in October 2006 with an initial public offering at $16.50 a share. On Friday, shares closed at $19.21.

Since the company's initial public offering, it rebranded stores, most of them formerly under the Circle K name, to Stripes after an expiration of a Circle K licensing agreement.

Town &amp; Country is a privately owned company and a leading convenience store operator in West Texas and eastern New Mexico, with 140 locations in Central and West Texas and the Panhandle, and 28 locations in eastern New Mexico. Town &amp; Country also owns 14 undeveloped locations for future development.

"Town &amp; Country is an extremely profitable and well-run convenience store chain, with a leadership position in attractive and complementary markets where we want to be," Susser said.

Susser said negotiations to acquire Town &amp; Country stores started about eight years ago when he visited a store and was impressed by the company's culture.

Town &amp; Country stores originated in Austin in 1958. The first assignment for co-founder and retired chairman H.C. "Harold" Gibbs was the selection and acquisition of convenience store sites in his hometown of San Angelo. The first store in San Angelo opened in 1965. The chain has about 2,000 employees.

Stripes, Texas' largest independent convenience store operator and non-refining motor fuel distributor, owns 320 convenience stores in Texas and Oklahoma. The company is listed in the Nasdaq Global Market under the symbol SUSS. The additional 168 convenience stores will be re-branded as Stripes stores within two years, according to the company. Susser has 4,035 employees.

The transaction is supposed to be completed in 60 to 90 days. Susser said the goal is to build 12 to 22 new Stripes stores in 2008.

Contact Elvia Aguilar at 886-3678 or

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