Dive Brief:
- Two more convenience retailers that lease their stores from Mountain Express Oil Co. and that have exclusive fuel supply agreements with the company have said they are not receiving any gasoline on site while Mountain Express endures bankruptcy, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
- The retailers, Fox Fuels Retail Group and GSS Holdings, have collectively lost millions of dollars due to Mountain Express’ dire straits, court documents show. As of Aug. 16, the retailers have received court approval to purchase fuel from other entities.
- The approval came a week after six convenience retailers in New York received the same permission after Mountain Express’ lack of fuel supply nearly ended their operations entirely.
Dive Insight:
Before receiving their approvals to get fuel from other suppliers, the six New York retailers were “on the verge of shuttering” their doors due to Mountain Express’ mishaps, according to court documents.
Up until Aug. 16, Fox Fuels and GSS were in the same boat.
Fox Fuels — which operates eight convenience stores across Irving, Dallas, Balch Springs and Mesquite, Texas — wasn’t consistently receiving fuel or credit card proceeds from Mountain Express over the past 90 days, court documents show.
To date, this has resulted in losses of $3.5 million and $500,000 in fuel revenue and retail sales, respectively, according to court documents.
Meanwhile, Mountain Express has halted its fuel supply to GSS on three separate occasions since filing for bankruptcy in March, according to court documents.
On Aug. 5, Mountain Express cut off fuel to 39 of GSS’ 40 locations, and as of Aug. 8, 11 GSS stores were closed completely due to the lack of fuel supply.
As of Aug. 16, GSS only had fuel at half its locations, and the remainder are “expected to be without fuel in the coming days,” the documents show.
GSS — which has stores are located in Louisiana and Mississippi — did not specify how much money it has lost amid Mountain Express’ quandary. However, court documents show that “every single day without fuel has a catastrophic effect on GSS’s business and results in thousands of dollars lost in revenue.”
On Aug. 4, Alpharetta, Georgia-based Mountain Express received a $49 million offer from Arko, the parent company of c-store retailer GPM Investments, to sell all of its assets except for any owned real estate.
Although a deal seemed to be the only option on the table, during an Aug. 16 hearing, Mountain Express requested the court’s permission to cease all operations and terminate its employees after Arko’s buyout fell apart. Judge David Jones has since appointed a Chapter 11 trustee to help facilitate progress and to help Mountain Express’ employees.
