Dive Brief:
- Fast Stop, a convenience store chain based in Louisiana, has acquired the 12-location Snappy Mart Stores chain in New Mexico for an undisclosed amount, according to a report from The Silver City Daily Press and Independent.
- The Snappy Mart locations are scattered across Silver City, Bayard, Arenas Valley and Deming, New Mexico, according to the Silver City Chamber of Commerce’s website. Fast Stop intends to keep the Snappy Mart branding for these locations moving forward, according to the report.
- The deal not only grows Fast Stop’s store network by 50%, but also marks the retailer’s entrance into New Mexico — its first state of operation outside of Louisiana.
Dive Insight:
This deal comes several years after news first surfaced that parent company W&N was asked about selling its Snappy Mart c-store banner.
In late 2016, W&N owners Debbie and Jim Nennich revealed that Alimentation Couche-Tard had approached them with an offer to rebrand the Snappy Mart stores to Circle K locations, but they declined the offer.
At the time, Debbie Nennich referred to chatter that W&N was under contract with Couche-Tard as “Facebook rumors.”
About seven years later, W&N has finally sold its Snappy Mart c-store chain.
Silver City, New Mexico-based W&N Enterprises was founded in 1999, according to Jim Nennich’s LinkedIn profile. Besides Snappy Mart Stores, the company also operates Food Basket grocery stores, Snappy Liquor store, Wranglers Bar & Grill and the Snappy City Beverage Company.
Founded in 2015, Fast Stop operates 24 convenience stores in Louisiana, mainly around Baton Rouge and New Orleans. It is different from Bloomington, Illinois-based Fast Stop, which offers branding services to hundreds of convenience stores across the Midwest. It’s also different from Fast Stop Markets, which operates around 20 c-stores out of Hohenwald, Tennessee, as well as Ogden, Utah-based Fast Stop travel centers, which runs nearly 50 truck stops in the western U.S.
