Tooley Oil sells 12 California c-stores and seven car washes, keeps its wholesale business
Tooley Oil Co. has sold its petroleum marketing and convenience retail arm to an undisclosed buyer, according to Matrix Capital Markets Group, which advised on the deal. The package was 12 convenience stores and seven car washes across the Sacramento metro. Tooley kept its wholesale motor fuels distribution business.
A jobber selling the retail and holding the wholesale is worth reading closely. The stores sold Shell and Chevron fuel. They also carried Tooley's own Mixx brand. Whoever bought them now supplies that gallonage, or renegotiates it, and Tooley stays in the supply chain as a distributor rather than a competitor for the same corners.
Mick Tooley started the company in 1978 with eight unbranded stations. What sold this week is the built-out version of that: a retail network with car washes attached, which is where a lot of the forecourt money actually sits now. Fuel margins at the pump swing week to week. A car wash membership and the inside sale are steadier, and buyers pay up for that steadiness. The confidential structure means we don't know if this is a strategic operator adding scale in Northern California or a private-equity roll-up. Matrix isn't saying.
Tooley says the proceeds go toward growth. For a company that just kept its distribution business, growth most likely means more gallons wholesaled, not more stores run. That is a bet that the harder job in California retail is worth handing to someone else.
E15 in California
The Renewable Fuels Association is keeping its retailer program running in California as E15 moves toward approval in the state. California has been the last big holdout on the 15% ethanol blend, and RFA's pitch to operators is help with the switch: equipment, labeling, the compliance side of putting a new grade on the island.
For a California c-store operator, E15 is a possible third grade and a cheaper one at the pump, which could pull some volume if the price gap holds. It also means new dispenser labeling and making sure your equipment is rated for the blend, which is the part RFA is offering to walk retailers through. Nothing changes at your store until the state signs off. RFA's program is the groundwork ahead of that.
What to watch
Who bought the Tooley stores, if the buyer ever surfaces, and whether the Shell and Chevron branding stays or flips. Watch whether Tooley's retained wholesale book picks up the supply contract for its former sites.
On E15, watch the timing of California's approval and whether the retail price spread against E10 is wide enough to move drivers to the new grade.