Cumberland Farms to be acquired by British retailer
Photo | Grant Welker
Cumberland Farms' store on East Main Street in Westborough
Westborough-based Cumberland Farms will be acquired by a U.K.-based operator of gas stations and convenience stores after decades of family ownership.
EG Group announced the agreement to acquire the roughly 560-store chain Wednesday. The acquisition of Cumberland Farms, financial terms of which weren't disclosed, gives the firm a much larger presence in the U.S. with 1,700 stores across 30 states.
The Cumberland Farms brand will remain on all stores and some of the chain’s products could be added to EG’s wider portfolio.
Cumberland Farms has until now been owned and run by the Haseotes family since it opened its first store in 1957 in Bellingham, eventually expanding across the Northeast and Florida, including more than 200 in Massachusetts.
EG Group first made entry in the U.S. convenience store market in 2018 with a $2.15 billion deal to acquire Kroger's convenience store business of more than 700 locations and another deal to buy Minit Mart's more than 200 locations for $305 million. EG Group also bought the 54-station Fastrac chain of New York in April.
“We very much look forward to becoming part of the EG family, as it is clear that both Cumberland Farms and EG Group share a common vision for excellence in convenience retailing and commitment to investment in our people,” said Cumberland Farms President and CEO Ari Haseotes.
The price of Cumberland Farms wasn’t detailed, but EG Group said it would run an overall organization that retails more than 2.5 billion gallons of fuel and more than $3 billion in products each year.
The announcement comes just a few months after rumors of a possible sale began to surface in April.
Greg Lindenberg, the editor of the convenience store publications CSP and CSP Daily News, said the industry was surprised that the Haseotes family was considering a sale, and even more surprised that EG Group would buy it. It shouldn't have been a surprise though in hindsight, he said, considering EG Group's fast expansion in the United States.
"It has showed no signs of stopping as it rises rapidly up the ranking of CSP's Top 202 list," Lindenberg said of the publication's tally of the industry's largest brands. The company landed eighth this year, while Cumberland Farms was 15th.
In recent years, Cumberland Farms has moved toward more prepared food options and store layouts that urge customers to stay awhile, rather than simply fill up on gas. New menu items include spinach-and-feta sandwiches, egg-and-chorizo wraps, espresso and smoothies.
Industry analysts have said changes in the convenience store industry have often brought larger store footprints and food and drink items that wouldn't have been expected in convenience stores before, as gas fill-ups drop in number and provide fewer reasons for people to step inside a convenience store.
“It is a significant investment,” David Heilbronner, Cumberland Farms director of brand strategy and advertising, said this spring about the company's upscale moves. “It's worth it for us.”
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