The gas station and convenience store sector faced financial distress in 2024 that has led to bankruptcy filings, store closings, and divestitures.
Giant gas station operator Shell plc in March got the ball rolling when it revealed plans to divest about 500 company-owned retail sites each year in 2024 and 2025 as an upgrade of its retail network with expanded electric vehicle charging and convenience offers in response to customer needs, the company said in its Energy Transition Strategy 2024 report.
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Shell operated more than 46,000 Shell-branded retail locations, including 12,500 convenience stores worldwide at the end of 2022, according to its 2022 annual report.
Related: Distressed oil company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The company also owned about 139,000 electric charge points, including over 28,000 charge points at Shell forecourts, on-street locations, mobility hubs, and destinations like supermarkets.
Later in the summer, The Store convenience stores and gas stations, owned by Team Schierl Cos., on July 31, 2024, shut down all operations of its 25 locations in Michigan and Wisconsin after its landlord Mountain Express Oil Co. filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation in August 2023.
Alpharetta, Ga.-based Mountain Express, founded in 2000, distributed fuel to 828 fueling centers and 27 travel centers in 27 states, before filing bankruptcy. The Store in 2022 sold the land and buildings for its stores to Mountain Express, and maintained all store operations, including equipment, inventory, employment of staff and working with local vendors.
SQRL converted its Chapter 11 bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation.(Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
SQRL converts to Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation
Finally, gas station and convenience store operator SQRL Service Stations of Florida on Nov. 15 won court approval to convert its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case to a Chapter 7 liquidation after a bankruptcy trustee determined that there was no chance that the debtor would successfully reorganize or sell its business as a going concern, according to industry publication CSP.
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SQRL has no bank account, no income, and its assets consist of about 406 gas station leases in the United States, which have questionable value, court documents reportedly said.
SQRL Service Stations filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Aug. 16, 2024, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, seeking to restructure over $1.2 billion in unsecured debt.
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Gas Hub Investments, which owns 100% membership interest in the debtor, purchased the chain of gas stations and convenience stores in April 2024 for $17 million and soon faced financial issues.
After Gas Hub completed its acquisition, SQRL began breaching its leases by failing to pay rent for April 2024 and subsequent months, court documents reportedly said.
SQRL was evicted from several gas station locations
The bankruptcy court granted a landlord of about 30 SQRL stations the authority to evict Gas Hub from 18 SQRL convenience store locations in several states, including Arkansas, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Gas Hub filed an involuntary Chapter 7 liquidation petition on May 13, 2024, against a different entity, gas station chain owner SQRL Holdings and its founder Blake Smith, for millions of dollars in unpaid rent. Attorneys for both sides of the Chapter 7 case in July filed a joint motion to dismiss the involuntary Chapter 7 case, with SQRL Service Stations planning to file for Chapter 11, which it did in August.
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