ampm

This article is about the convenience store chain. For the timekeeping method, see 12-hour clock.
ampm
Private (subsidiary of BP)
Founded 1978
Founder Atlantic Richfield Company
Parent BP
A BP with an ampm in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh right off the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

The ampm brand (rarely "am/pm") is a convenience store chain with branches located in several U.S. states, including Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, recently in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and in several countries worldwide, formerly including Japan. The ampm brand is owned by BP America, Inc.,[1] a subsidiary of BP, which acquired its founding owner, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), in 2000. In the US, the stores are usually attached to an ARCO or BP-branded gas station. The first location opened in Southern California in 1978.[1]

With the division of ARCO between BP and Tesoro, West Coast franchising rights were split between BP (Washington, Oregon and Northern California) and Tesoro subsidiary company Treasure Franchise Company LLC (Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Southern California).

Franchised and BP-owned units of ampm are also found in parts of Mexico, usually co-located with a Pemex which is the only company that provides gas, Costa Rica and Brazil, usually attached with an Ipiranga station. In Argentina and Chile they can be found in Repsol-YPF/ACA stations.

In Spring 2008, U.S. branches of the BP Connect brand of convenience stores rebranded to ampm, which also brought the brand under the BP banner after exclusively being under the ARCO banner. The subsequent decision saw markets with a large BP presence, such as Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Orlando, and Pittsburgh, instantly have ampm stores and subsequent TV ads in those markets, in order to establish the brand.

In August 2008, BP announced its decision to sell the majority of its retail operations in the Orlando area to Apopka-based Medallion Convenience Stores. The ownership change-over was scheduled for a staggered timeline throughout November 2008. Also in 2008, the Indianapolis stores were sold to Ricker Oil (which now operates them under the BP/Ricker's identity).[2] In August 2012 it was reported that BP had divested, or was planning to divest, all ampm operations East of the Rockies.[3]

The Japanese chain was sold, alongside BP's other interests to Japan Energy (JOMO) in 2002, but then resold to Reins International Inc, an operator of Korean-style restaurants in Japan, in 2004.[4] In November 2009, FamilyMart announced its acquisition of am/pm Japan. All ampm stores in Japan will subsequently be rebranded as FamilyMart.

References

  1. 1 2 "Get to know ampm: History". BP America Inc. Retrieved 21 November 2012.
  2. ↑ "Ricker rebranding 17 Indianapolis convenience stores". Indianapolis Business Journal. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "Lights Out for BP's ampm". CSPnet.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Gyukaku operator to buy controlling stake in am/pm". Japan Times. Retrieved 6 December 2012.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to ampm.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, September 04, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.