VPS Convenience Store Group was an American convenience store chain headquartered in
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...
that could trace its roots to the founding of the first Village Pantry convenience store in 1966. VPS was sold in two parts in 2013 and 2015 to
GPM Investments
GPM Investments LLC (GPM) is a convenience store owner and operator based in Richmond, Virginia. Founded in 2003, it originally operated the Fas Mart and Shore Stop brands of convenience stores, and decided to expand.
History
Its first major purc ...
.
History
Village Pantry
Village Pantry was founded as a
convenience store chain division of
Marsh Supermarkets
Marsh Supermarkets was an American retail food chain headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with a peak number of 86 stores in 2013 located throughout central Indiana and parts of western Ohio (including metropolitan Cincinnati). Its eventual p ...
, founded in
Yorktown, Indiana
Yorktown is a town in Mount Pleasant Township, Delaware County, Indiana, United States. The population was 11,548 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Muncie, IN Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
According to the 2010 census, Yorktown ...
. The first ''Village Pantry'' location opened in 1966 in
Muncie, Indiana.
[Alternate Link]
via NewspaperArchive.com
Heritage Microfilm, Inc. (est. 1997) is a preservation microfilm and microfilm digitization business located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
History
The company began in 1996 when the microfilm division of Cedar Rapids-based Crest Information Technolo ...
.
In September 2006,
Sun Capital Partners
Sun Capital Partners, Inc., is an American private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts. Sun Capital was founded in 1995 by Marc J. Leder and Rodger Krouse, former classmates at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and ...
purchased Marsh and its divisions, including Village Pantry, $325 million.
In May 2007, Sun announced that they were splitting Village Pantry from Marsh, making it its own company reporting directly to
Sun Capital.
In October 2007, Village Pantry acquired Imperial Company, Inc., which operated 33 ''
Next Door Store'' locations in Michigan and Indiana.
In March 2008, Village Pantry acquired nine ''AmeriStop Market'' convenience stores in central Ohio from Petro Acquisitions, Inc., and were rebranded ''Village Pantry''.
In two separate transactions that were completed in March 2008, Sun Capital acquired Li'L Cricket Food Stores Inc., which operated 88 convenience stores in South Carolina under the ''
Li'L Cricket'' name, and Worsley Operating Companies, which operated 124 convenience stores in North and South Carolina under the ''
Scotchman'', ''
Youngs and ''S-E'' names.
Worsley also owns its private gas label ''Carolina Petro'', which Sun Capital inherited as well.
Formation of VPS Convenience Store Group
In Spring 2009, Village Pantry and three other Sun-owned convenience store chains—''Young's'', ''Li'l Cricket'', and ''Scotchman''—began reorganizing to consolidate accounting and administration with Young's and Scotchman parent company Worsley Operating Corporation. As part of the consolidation, VPS relocated its headquarters from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Wilmington, North Carolina.
As of May 2013, the combined operation ran a total of 430 convenience stores as VPS Convenience Store Group.
In January 2011, VPS Convenience Store Group acquired 22 former Appalachian Oil (Appco) c-stores in northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia and were rebranded ''Scotchman''.
GPM Investments (operator of the
Fas Mart and
Shore Stop convenience stores) acquired the Southeast operations of VPS in August 2013 and the remaining Midwestern division in June 2015.
Notes and references
External links
*
GPM Investments— ''successor company''.
Suneuropeanpartners.com: Village Pantry / Worsley
{{Sun Capital Partners
Convenience stores of the United States
Defunct retail companies of the United States
Companies based in Wilmington, North Carolina
American companies established in 1966
Retail companies established in 1966
Retail companies disestablished in 2015
2003 establishments in North Carolina
2015 disestablishments in North Carolina
Defunct companies based in North Carolina
Economy of the Midwestern United States