Independents

Boulder, Col. -- QuikTrip is the nation’s most popular convenience store, according to a new study by Market Force Information. QuikTrip was voted the most popular c-store chain among the more than 7,600 study participants, followed by Wawa, RaceTrac, Speedway and Arco/ampm.

Tokyo -- A Sunday report by Bloomberg said that 7-Eleven parent Seven & I Holdings Co. is planning more acquisitions here and may more than double the number of c-store stores it operates in North America.

The company “could increase our store number to 20,000 or even 30,000 [in North America],” chairman Toshifumi Suzuki told Bloomberg in an interview.  7-Eleven currently has more than 8,000 convenience stores in North America.

No time-frame for the planned expansion has been defined.

CARY, N.C. — The Pantry, an independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern United States, has appointed former Big Lots executive Boris Zelmanovich as the company’s SVP and CMO. 

Zelmanovich will join the Pantry’s executive leadership team Monday, June 3, and will lead merchandising. He served as VP of merchandising strategy at Big Lots, where he was responsible for the development of strategic merchandising plans and repositioning the merchandising portfolio to drive market differentiation.

Dallas -- S&S Enterprises said it has sold a portfolio of 12 Sunoco fuel centers and convenience stores in central and southeast Florida for $32 million to entities managed by Cole Real Estate Investments.

The portfolio consists of 37,275 sq. ft., with seven of the 12 locations having been redeveloped and all locations having received 20-year lease extensions.

Miami -- Jones Lang LaSalle announced it has closed the sale of Kendall Corners on behalf of joint owners Weingarten Realty Investors and a subsidiary of TIAA-CREF.

Miami-based Orion Ventures purchased the 96,515-sq.-ft. shopping center.

MINNEAPOLIS — Supervalu reported sales of $3.89 billion and a loss of $1.41 billion in fourth quarter 2013, compared with sales of $3.98 billion and a loss of $424 million in fourth quarter 2012.

For the fiscal year, sales were $17.1 billion, compared with $17.3 billion in fiscal year 2012, while the company incurred a loss of $1.46 billion, compared with a $1.04 billion loss the year before.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven announced Monday it has closed on the acquisition of 46 Hickory Point and Palms Stores from CB Mart.

While the terms of this particular deal haven’t been made public, the acquisition boosts 7-Eleven’s Carolinas store count to more than 100 and puts the c-store operator solidly on track to continue its accelerated growth plan. 7-Eleven earlier acquired 55 Sam’s Mart and 13 Fast Track stores in the two-state area.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven will rebrand convenience stores in Ohio’s Cuyahoga and Lorain counties as part of a 19-store lease from Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Gas Partners LP.

The effective date of the leases will vary, but all leases are expected to be in place by March 31, 2013.

New York -- Supervalu on Thursday announced the completion of the sale of its Albertsons, Acme, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s and Star Market stores and related Osco and Sav-on in-store pharmacies to AB Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of a Cerberus Capital Management-led investor consortium. The stock deal is valued at $3.3 billion, including $100 million in cash and $3.2 billion in debt assumption.