Uni-Mart is selling its stores including those located in Blair, Huntingdon and Centre counties.
The locations include the Tyrone and Warriors Mark Uni-Marts.
“We currently have 255 stores to offer,” said Wendy Marciante, sales project manager for NRC Realty Advisors LLC of Chicago. “Four include the real estate (the land, the building), so obviously the bulk of them are business only.”
She explained “business only” means the inventory of merchandise and gasoline.
“This is an excellent opportunity for either an existing small business operator to expand in their market or an individual who wants to go into business for themselves or facing retirement,” said Marciante. “Given the entry-price level most of these qualify for SBA (Small Business Administration) financing which is a very low down payment. This is an excellent opportunity for an individual to own their own business.
“We anticipate the bulk of this sale will be to individuals, not a large oil company or a large corporation buying 150 to 200 sites,” said Marciante. “We anticipate in excess of 200 individual buyers.”
Marciante also explained the reason why Uni-Mart decided to offer its business for sale.
“Uni-Mart went private earlier this year,” explained Marciante. “Part of their business strategy-and this is a brilliant business strategy- it’s one that has become a trend started by the large oil companies- is to dealerize the sites. Uni-Mart will retain ownership of the real estate-the dirt, the building itself.
“They will enter into a long-term lease agreement with these buyers which will include a long-term supply agreement for their petroleum or diesel as well as a trademark-licensing agreement for the Uni-Mart name.
“The branding will be maintained,” said Marciante. “Uni-Mart is still healthy, viable and in business. They’re just altering the way they do their business. So, they’re getting out of the day-to-day operations of selling cigarettes and sodas-turning that over to these individuals-entrepeneurs-and focusing on their petroleum sales and maintaining the integrity of their name.”
Marciante said the locations being offered for sale include both Uni-Mart and Choice locations. The bulk of the sale involves Pennsylvania stores, more than 200, according to Marciante.
In 1972, Henry D. Sahakian founded Uni-Mart as a division of Unico Corporation. Henry also opened his first convenience store in State College in 1972. In December 1986, with 208 stores, Uni-Mart was spun off from Unico and became a publicly traded company on the American Stock Exchange. Earlier this year, Uni-Mart finalized a merger and became a private company again.
Marciante said a brochure about the sale would be available starting Monday. A series of free seminars are also planned, including one in Pittsburgh in mid-November. The bid deadline is listed as Dec. 3, 2004.
Uni-Mart’s corporate offices are located in State College. Marciante said her company (NRC Realty Advisors) is the nation’s largest broker for the retail petroleum industry. She said her firm had sold thousands of thousands of sites and had been in business for 16 years.
Uni-Mart’s corporate offices referred all questions about the sale to NRC Realty Advisors.
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On the net: www.nrc.com/uni-mart/
