C-store chain Stinker buying instead of building

Brad Carlson

Boise-based Stinker Stores Inc. in mid-January grew its chain of convenience stores to 50 units by acquiring what had been a Chevron-branded store at the northwest corner of Cole and Ustick roads, Boise. Terry Debban was the seller.

Stinker Stores has purchased and re-branded several successful convenience stores in the last four years, said Charley Jones, president and co-owner.

“That’s our preferred method of growth right now,” he said. “You can buy land and existing stores for significantly less than replacement value.”

Cost of construction is one factor that makes buying an existing convenience store preferable to building a store, Jones said. (Stinker has some experience with this, in recent years carrying out several “scrape-and-rebuild” projects on sites of existing Stinker stores, he said.)

Commercial real estate values are another factor that makes building a store less attractive, he said. Commercial real estate values in the Boise Valley are coming down but remain too high for convenience store construction, he said.

A successful existing store also can cost less due to the limited number of buyers, particularly where the current owner runs a smaller operation and has less buying power as well as less capital to reinvest in the property, Jones said. He would not say what Stinker Stores paid for the store at Ustick and Cole, but he did say the company started negotiating two to three years ago and got a good deal.

Stinker replaced all six fuel dispensers, added diesel - the number of gas hoses did not change - and reconfigured the tops of tanks. “We were fortunate there that we didn’t have to do any new piping,” he said. Other features outside are a new car wash, and price signs with light-emitting diode displays.

As for the store building, changes are minimal - mainly new paint and signs. “It was a well-run store and in physically good shape, so there was not much to do,” Jones said.

Stinker, which is co-owned by Shawn Davis and employs 430, is working on a couple of additional deals this year, though nothing is imminent. “We plan to continue to buy stores and invest,” Jones said. The company in 2009 cut back its capital spending as it watched the recession.

“There are some encouraging signs, and we are looking to invest some capital again,” Jones said.

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One Response to “C-store chain Stinker buying instead of building”

1. fuel dispensers Says:
   March 31st, 2010 at 8:58 pm

   [...] bio diesel. The subsequent gigantic thing in automotive petroleum may particularly well be hydrogen.Idaho Business Review Blog Archive C-store chain Stinker …Stinker replaced all six fuel dispensers, added diesel - the number of gas hoses did not change - [...]

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