Polk Oil Acquires East Texas C-Store Chains

LUFKIN, Texas -- Polk Oil Co. acquired Land O' Pines Inc. and its subsidiaries, bringing together several longtime Lufkin, Texas, convenience store chains, including Okay Food Stores, Larelco and Mr. Payroll, reported The Lufkin Daily News .

With the acquisition of Land O' Pines, Polk Oil Co.'s operation grows to 29 convenience stores, 24 branded dealer locations, three Subway franchises and three Mr. Payroll check-cashing locations.

Carl Ray Polk Jr., president of Polk Oil, said the acquisition took place on Friday and came after several months of negotiations, reported the newspaper.

Land O' Pines operates a bottling plant, 13 retail convenience stores and three Mr. Payroll check-cashing franchises throughout East Texas. While Polk will continue to operate the Okay Food convenience stores and Mr. Payroll operations, the Land O' Pines bottling plant was sold to a local partnership.

"Ironically, I was approached by local investors who had the desire to purchase the bottling plant, and we were able to reach terms just in the past few days," Polk said in the report. "Knowing the plant will continue to have local ownership and ample opportunity for growth was important to me. It could not have happened at a better time."

The acquisition was a great opportunity, Polk told the newspaper, because it "helps us expand into areas that we did not have presence in before -- areas like Woodville, Jasper and San Augustine, Texas."

The merger "is a good fit for our current business model and the future growth of our company," Polk said in the release.

Polk Oil now serves 12 counties throughout East Texas.