Dive Brief:
- Convenience and energy retailer Petro Serve USA has acquired three Cenex Zip Trip c-stores in Valley City and Litchville, North Dakota, for an undisclosed amount, according to a report from the Valley City Times-Record.
- The acquired stores will remain under the Cenex Zip Trip banner, and all current employees have been offered the chance to keep their jobs after the purchase, according to the report.
- Cenex Zip Trip — a division of agriculture company CHS Inc. — has sold a number of its stores over the past handful of years, most recently offloading 33 locations in Washington and Idaho to Par Pacific Holdings in 2018 for more than $70 million.
Dive Insight:
Although the acquired stores will keep their current banners and employees, the fueling payment experience at the Litchville location will change in the near future.
The store will soon accept Visa and Mastercard payments at the pump, which it currently does not, Petro Serve USA CEO Kent Satrang told the Valley City Times-Record. The retailer will install a Cardtrol at this location’s pumps, which will let customers use Visa credit cards at both the Litchville and Valley City stores, he said.
“So that will be a couple of improvements we will make right away,” Satrang said.
Neither Petro Serve USA nor CHS Inc. responded by press time to an inquiry for more details on the acquisition.
Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota-based CHS Inc. operates nearly 40 Cenex Zip Trip convenience stores across Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado and Minnesota.
Founded in 1934, West Fargo, North Dakota-based Petro Serve USA owns and operates more than 30 convenience stores as a division of the locally owned cooperative Farmers Union Oil Company in Moorhead, Minnesota.
