Historically low fuel costs, driven in part by coronavirus-related shutdowns, have been an unexpected benefit for GPM Investments in 2020, just as the seventh-largest convenience store chain in the U.S. prepares to go public.
"We actually like low prices of fuel," GPM Investments CEO Arie Kotler told Cheddar. "As you can imagine, low prices of fuel leave a lot of money in the consumer's pocket, which enables those consumers to come into the stores and purchase more product. We saw a very nice increase basically in our same-store sales because of that."
Consumer patterns have shifted during the pandemic, he added, from big-box to "small-box" stores.
GPM is in the process of acquiring wholesale fuel and retail chain Empire Petroleum, which would bring its total value to $2 billion and make it the country's sixth-largest convenience store chain.
In addition, GPM is set to go public via a special purpose acquisition company called Haymaker.
"Given the current environment, the company’s resilient business model is particularly relevant, the inherent growth drivers extremely compelling, and their disciplined execution commendable," Steven Heyer, CEO and executive chairman of Haymaker, said in a statement.
While the company is a wholesaler of fuel, low oil prices still serve its bottom line.
"We are buying directly from the refiners and selling to the consumers," Kotler said. "As a matter of fact, we like oil prices to be low, to be honest. It's actually helping us tremendously."
The holiday season is here and it could be a stressful time as people plan shopping, cooking and traveling. Sally Holmes, editor-in-chief of InStyle Magazine, joined Cheddar News to discuss a new social media trend #Treatculture that helps people take a moment to treat themselves and how that is a psychological benefit to relieve stress.
English Wikipedia raked in more than 84 billion views this year, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind the free, publicly edited online encyclopedia. And the most popular article was about ChatGPT (yes, the AI chatbot that’s seemingly everywhere today).
Wikipedia has released its list of most viewed articles for 2023 with the site seeing over 84 billion visits. The most searched topic was ChatGPT with nearly 50 billion page views
Closing arguments are happening in a federal trial over whether Jetblue Airways will be allowed to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion.
Johnson and Johnson is reportedly looking to settle multiple lawsuits claiming that its baby powder causes cancer, according to Bloomberg.
Wells Fargo said it could face nearly $1 billion in severance costs in the fourth quarter.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a case surrounding a Maine hotel that could have made it harder for people with disabilities to learn in advance whether a hotel's accommodations meet their needs.
The highly-anticipated trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI is out earlier than expected.
AT&T announced a new partnership with Swedish communications company Ericsson.
Hackers accessed the personal data of 6.9 million users via the genetic testing company 23andMe.
