Casey’s buys nearly 200 stores in Texas, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi

(Story supplied by Radio Iowa)

The Ankeny-based Casey’s convenience store chain announced the acquisition Friday of 198 stores in the southern U-S that includes 148 in Texas and 50 in Alabama, Florida, and Mississippi. Casey’s is purchasing the CEFCO (Seff-Koh) convenience stores for more than one-point-one BILLION (1.145)dollars. Casey’s C-E-O Darin Rebelez (Ruh-bell-ez) talked about the purchase in a conference call for investors.

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Casey’s had already owned 22 stores in Texas and will have 29-hundred stores overall once the acquisition is complete. Fikes (Feyeks) Wholesale owns the stores and Rebelez says they will fit well with their operation.

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He says the Texas stores are mostly in smaller towns in the Dallas to San Antonio to Houston triangle. The Florida stores are mainly in the panhandle area. CEFCO is known for its chicken, and Rebelez says they plan to remodel the kitchens to bring in Casey’s pizza.

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CEFCO has a fuel terminal that is included in the agreement. Rebelez says the plan is to put the Casey’s name on the stores.

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Rebelez says they acquisition will help them meet the goal they set in 2023 to expand by 350 stores in half they time they had expected. The acquisition should be completed by the end of this year.