Uni-Mart

Uni-Mart is Pennsylvania-based company that owns, operates and franchises hundreds of convenience stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States.

The Uni-Mart and Choice convenient store chain announced the Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on May 29, 2008. That leaves more than 280 stores up for sale and some workers in central Pennsylvania are worried about their jobs.

Uni-Mart officials said there are more than 1,200 employees in the convenience store chain.

History

Henry D. Sahakian founded Uni-Mart in 1972, with the first store opening in State College, Pennsylvania. Over the next 15 years, Uni-Mart grew and became a successful convenience store brand. In December 1986 Uni-Mart became a publicly traded company on the American Stock Exchange. In July 2004, Uni-Mart reverted to private company status following the creation of Green Valley Acquisition Co., LLC.

Uni-Mart owns and operates 282 stores in Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and Maryland. The number of privately-owned franchise locations is not clear.

In 2006, the company expanded into Ohio by acquiring a handful of BP stations in the Youngstown, Ohio area. The company switched the convenience stores to Uni-Mart in 2007 but continue to sell BP gasoline, a stark contrast to Uni-Mart's in other markets that mainly sell their own brand of gasoline. This isn't the first time that Uni-Mart marketed other gasoline: during most of the 1990s, Uni-Mart's were cobranded with Getty, and several Pennsylvania stations sold Exxon right up to the bankruptcy; the corporate website also notes that some sell Sunoco [cite web|url=http://www.uni-mart.com/unimart_corporate/index.html|title=UniMarts Corporate website Over two-thirds of Uni-Marts’ locations sell gasoline, with the majority offering the Uni-Mart brand name. Branded gasoline for the other sites is purchased from BP/Amoco, Exxon/Mobil and Sunoco. Downloaded 28 August 2008.] .

According to local reputation in central Pennsylvania, the tricolor red-blue-orange motif used in Uni-Mart's logo and signage is a direct reference to the flag of Armenia, a tribute to the heritage of the company's founder.

Uni-Mart is following a growing industry trend, initiated by the major oil companies, where ownership of convenience stores and gas stations is put in the hands of individual dealers and operators who are able to set their own margins and purchase their own merchandise. Uni-Mart is also targeting minority populations.

The company was recently taken private in a transaction involving the company's founder Henry D. Sahakian and NRI Raj Vakharia, a former managing director of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette.

NRI (non-resident Indian) Raj Vakharia was born in Rajkot, Gujarat and came to the United States in 1976 to attend Long Island University, where he earned a master's degree in business administration. He also has a law degree from the University of Saurashtra. Vakharia, who lives in Colonia, N.J., has also served as New Jersey's assistant state treasurer for New Jersey in Governor James McGreevey’s administration for one and half year , has resigned from the position to return to his finance and investment-banking career on Wall Street. He was the first Asian-Indian to hold such a high treasury post.

Vakharia bought Uni-Mart in July, 2004. According to Vakharia, his plan going into his purchase of Uni-Mart was to sell stores to individual operators.

NRI Raj Vakharia will target its investment in high-growth markets throughout India including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune.

Owners lawsuit

Pennsylvania convenience store owners are suing Uni-Mart, LLC for fraud and breach of contract, claiming the company and its real estate and financial firms misled them about operating costs and profitability, in a lawsuit filed on January 2, 2007, in Luzerne County court.

In 2004, the owners were solicited through booklets and seminars to buy 225 convenience stores. The suit says information owners received "contained serious omissions and representations."

"In particular, the company allegedly misled owners about critical costs to operate the stores, misstating or neglecting to mention how much payroll, maintenance, taxes and insurance would be."

The company is also said to have overcharged owners for gasoline, in violation of agreements.

Pirshlo

The Little Valley, NY-based Pirshlo, Inc. conglomerate, which owned the New York cluster of Uni-Marts (and a handful in northern Pennsylvania), was forced to shut down its entire cluster in August 2007, after Pirshlo owner Lloyd Long was convicted of tax evasion. [Turano, Sharon. [http://www.post-journal.com/page/content.detail/id/506538.html?nav=5018 Long Pleads Guilty: Salamanca Man May Serve Jail Time] . The Post-Journal. 15 July 2008. ] Uni-Mart is in the process of taking over the former Pirshlo cluster and re-opening the stores.

References

* [http://www.nriinternet.com/NRIrealtors/INDIA/NRI_investors/Raj_Vakharia/index.htm "NRI to invest $250m in Indian commercial and residential real estate"]
* [http://citizensvoice.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=17662670&BRD=2259&PAG=461&dept_id=455154&rfi=8 "Uni-Mart convenience store owners claiming parent company misled them"]

External links

* [http://www.uni-mart.com/ Official Web site]