Dive Brief:
- Par Mar Oil has laid off several corporate team members this summer as part of a series of staff cuts over the past year, two people who were part of the latest round of reductions confirmed to C-Store Dive.
- The layoffs have hit several departments since June 2024, including marketing, corporate training and information technology, according to both team members, one of whom was a vice president and the other who was an IT specialist with the company. Both requested anonymity to avoid retaliation from Par Mar.
- Representatives from Par Mar did not respond by press time when asked why it’s making the layoffs, although the former VP said the reductions have been driven by recent financial struggles.
Dive Insight:
While it’s been around since the 1960s, most of Par Mar’s growth has occurred since the company was acquired by Croton Holding Company in 2016. Since then, the retailer has grown from 50 stores to roughly 250 locations across West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Virginia, Maryland and its home state of Ohio.
Such rapid growth may have led to the company’s current financial pickle, as “corporate overhead had ballooned between 2020 and 2023,” according to the former VP.
Besides its flurry of acquisitions during that period that brought on new team members, Par Mar also invested in new headquarters in 2021 in a move that created 100 new jobs.
The recently terminated VP said that Par Mar experienced “a very poor 2023” and “a pretty big loss in 2024” in terms of its financials.
The latest round of cuts occurred in mid-May, according to a termination letter sent to the former VP seen by C-Store Dive. The letter was signed by Nila Manning, VP of risk management, and Sandy Hart, a human resources associate with the company.
