Dive Brief:
- As Mountain Express Oil Company ceases operations amid Chapter 7 bankruptcy, 19 of its locations with Pilot fuel branding have temporarily closed, a Pilot spokesperson confirmed.
- The 19 locations are scattered across nine states. Four are in Louisiana, while Missouri and North Carolina each have three. Pennsylvania, Alabama and North Dakota each have two locations; and Arkansas, South Carolina and Kansas each have one.
- Mountain Express, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, shifted to Chapter 7 and terminated all operations and employees on Aug. 24. U.S. trustee Janet Northrop is now in control of Mountain Express’ assets.
Dive Insight:
Last Thursday, Mountain Express’ turbulent bankruptcy case reached its climax, as the company officially “rejected and terminated” all of its convenience store leases and existing fuel supply agreements, thus ceasing operations. It also terminated its employees at this time, and said it would pay them any unpaid wages.
Also at that time, Mountain Express terminated licenses for the third-party branding of its individual operating sites, including the 19 Pilot-branded stores.
There is no timeline regarding if or when these locations will reopen. In the meantime, Pilot has noted “alternative nearby locations” for each of the shuttered sites that customers can visit, according to a company memo.
In the memo directed to Pilot’s customers, David Hughes, senior vice president of sales for the Knoxville, Tennessee-based retailer, noted that these stores have been temporarily closed “effective immediately.”
“We appreciate your business and look forward to continuing to serve you at our more than 800 locations across North America,” Hughes said in the memo.
Founded in 2000, Alpharetta, Georgia-based Mountain Express Oil formerly distributed fuel to 855 locations around the country, including 27 travel centers, and operated about 171 retail stores.
Pilot is the largest travel center company in the U.S. with more than 870 locations across 44 states and six Canadian provinces. The retailer is a majority-owned subsidiary of multinational holding company Berkshire Hathaway.
