Founded 1972 | ||
Headquarters Pennsylvania, United States | ||
Uni-Mart was a Pennsylvania-based company that owned, operated and franchised numerous convenience stores in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States (US). In 2008, the company operated 283 convenience stores and gas stations in the US states of Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, and, as of 1995, its annual sales totaled USD$327.01 million. Henry Sahakian was Uni-Mart's founder and, as of 1997, the company consisted of 2,700 employees.
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On 29 May 2008, Uni-Marts LLC filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in the US bankruptcy court for the District of Delaware, initiating a process that had been considered by the company's management since September 2007.
In December 2009, the company's remaining assets were sold to Kwik Pik LLC, an affiliate of Lehigh Gas Corporation. As of 2016, many stations still operate under the Uni-Mart name.
History
Henry D. Sahakian founded Uni-Mart in 1972, opening the first store at State College, Pennsylvania. Over a 15-year period, Uni-Mart developed into a convenience store brand that was considered successful and, by December 1986, Uni-Mart became a public 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. As of 2008, Uni-Mart owns and operates 283 stores in Pennsylvania, New York and Ohio, but the number of privately owned franchise locations is not clear.
In 2006, the company expanded into Ohio by acquiring a small number of BP stations in the Youngstown area. The company proceeded to convert and absorb the convenience stores into the Uni-Mart enterprise in 2007, but continued to sell BP gasoline (the majority of Uni-Mart stations in other areas sell their own brand of gasoline). Uni-Mart had sold other gasoline brands prior to this occasion, with a co-branding deal having been in place with Getty for most of the 1990s and several Pennsylvania stations offering Exxon until the bankruptcy in 2008 (the corporate website also notes that some outlets sell Sunoco).
The company was made private when Sahakian sold it to Non-resident Indian (NRI) Raj Vakharia, a former managing director of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Vakharia will target its investment in high-growth markets throughout India including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune.
Pirshlo
The Little Valley, New York-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. Uni-Mart initially took over the Pirshlo stores before liquidating them, while the Seneca nation claimed two in Salamanca, one of which became WGWE.