NRC looks to offer small c-store retailers expertise in real estate and financial advisory services via new SBS unit.

NRC Realty & Capital Advisors LLC has formed a new business unit, NRC Small Business Solutions (SBS), to provide real estate brokerage and financial advisory services to single-site and small convenience store operators and fuel marketers throughout the country.

With the increasing pace of industry consolidation and intense new-to-industry competition from well-capitalized companies such as Wawa, RaceTrac and QuikTrip, NRC expects the pace of industry exits of convenience store owners and operators with fewer than 10 stores to increase significantly over the next five years.

Retailers thinking of selling a single store or a group of stores quickly learn that no national resources exist, which provide services solely to the convenience store and fuel marketer industries.

Heretofore, the largest providers have been local real estate brokers and business brokers who have little knowledge of the convenience store industry or the value drivers, which maximize price, nor do they have any relationships with the larger national and regional aggregators and smaller companies, which are aggressively acquiring stores across the country. Very few commercial brokers understand fuel margins, fuel supply, channels of trade, branding value or environmental issues, which are critical in offering stores in this industry for sale and have very limited reach in finding buyers who may be located outside of their immediate local markets. As a result, some retailers merely approach the largest convenience store company in their area without seeing what other buyers might offer, especially if they are concerned about their employees.

“This sector of the convenience store industry is massively underserved,” according to Evan Gladstone, NRC’s executive managing director. “We have sold sites in Texas and Florida to buyers from New York, and sites in Las Vegas and Phoenix to buyers from California dozens of times over the past 15 years,” Gladstone said. “We are very excited to offer our new brokerage services specifically targeted at the small retailer using our 160,000-name proprietary buyer database and our long-term relationships with companies large and small throughout the country. NRC’s highly experienced team of brokers and marketers understand how and where to find the right buyers, and quickly generate a competitive bidding process to unlock the highest value for its clients. The SBS platform is designed to provide the transactional services small operators are looking for right now and over the next five years as the entire marketplace shifts.”