Property Types Retail
Conoco to Sell Gas Stations for $800M
Aug 27, 2008
By: Adam Perrotta, News Writer

ConocoPhillips has reveled plans to sell 600 company-owned gas stations across the nation to PetroSun West in an $800 million deal that will mark the firm’s exit from the volatile retail gas business.

Houston-based Conoco operates gas stations under the Conoco, Phillips 66 and 76 brands in the West and Midwest.

The firm is the latest gas company to divest itself of its service stations. With ballooning crude oil prices, profit margins have shrunk even with high prices at the pump. In June, Exxon Mobil Corp. announced plans to sell off its 2,200 stations, and BP Plc. also plans to exit the retail business by next year.

Conoco, the third-largest American oil firm, will continue its gasoline production and wholesale businesses.

PetroSun will convert the newly-acquired stations into more convenince- and service-oriented facilities, offering food shops, financial services and dry cleaning, according to company CEO Sam Hirbod in a report by the Wall Street Journal. Increasingly, operators are using gas sales to attract shoppers to these other, more profitable, services.

The deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the year, according to the Journal report.

 
Recent Retail Headlines
Dollar Retailing Seeing Good Times
Jan. 08, 2009
The Dow Jones index took something of a dive yesterday, possibly because of ill tidings from the likes of Time Warner and Intel, or the anticipation of bad job market numbers, or maybe because it was time to yo-yo back to roughly where the market started at the beginning of the year. In any case, the Dow was down 245.40 points, or 2.72 percent, while the S&P 500 lost 3 percent exactly and the Nasdaq lost 3.23 percent.
Cushman Report: Even Manhattan Humbled in 2008 
Jan. 06, 2009
After a steep decline in office rents and leasing activity at the end of 2008, many owners are attempting to lure tenants with aggressive deals, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc.’s year-end report on the Manhattan office market.
The News: Holiday Fallout, Public Confidence, Debt Loom
Jan. 06, 2009
Now that 2008 is mercifully behind the retail sector, the question of what should be on the radar for 2009 is front and center. Conversations with industry veterans and research suggest that consumer spending, the economic policies of the new president and Congress, and fallout from the holiday shopping season will shape the retail sector for at least the early part of the year.
Ken Riggs The Expert: Structural Shift on the Way
Jan. 06, 2009
Projections that fourth-quarter-2008 holiday retail sales would usher in despair not seen since the Great Depression had everyone on pins and needles. Although November reports indicated that seasonally-adjusted retail sales, excluding automobiles, were down slightly more than 4 percent from year-ago sales, recent figures from the International Council of Shopping Centers show December comparable store sales to have declined by only 1 to 1.8 percent. From some of the pre-December sales-report jitters, I would not have been surprised to see retail spending fall 10 percent as 2008 came to a close!
No Bottom Yet for Residential Market
Dec. 31, 2008
Despite poor consumer confidence and sour housing numbers, U.S. equity markets had a fairly positive day Tuesday, with the Dow Jones index ending up 184.46 points, or about 2.17 percent, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq up 2.44 percent and 2.67 percent, respectively.
 
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Pending Home Sales, Factory Orders Dip
January 07, 2009
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor-- It isn't clear that the days of yo-yoing equity markets have gone away--just wait until the next international shock or surprise bankruptcy--but for the moment the Dow Jones index seems to have mellowed out. It...

REal Talk with Adam Perrotta-Tuesday
January 06, 2009
Add Macquarie and CNL Financial to the list of firms looking to capitalize on the struggling state of the investment market. The duo's just-announced $1.5 billion global REIT will likely find some pretty good bargains to be had from sellers...

Construction Industry Faces Hard 2009
January 06, 2009
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor-- The equity markets dropped considerably Monday morning, but then yo-yoed around for the rest of the day--small fluctuations, really--and ended up slightly down, for the first time in four trading sessions and the first time...

REal Talk with Adam Perrotta-Monday
January 05, 2009
As the new year dawns, there is much to suggest that the hangover of 2008 will be sticking around for some time to come. Troubling financial and economic reports continue to haunt the headlines, the housing market remains in the...

Markets Start 2009 With Upward Bump
January 05, 2009
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor-- Instead of a lackluster lull after the New Year' s holiday, investors decided to buy equities on Friday, driving the Dow Jones index up 258 points, or nearly 3 percent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq...

Management Matters with Mike Myatt: The Next Domino to Fall
December 04, 2008
By: Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth --The next domino in the economic downturn is already starting to fall. The more layers of the onion we peel back on the chaos in the capital markets, the worse the news seems...

Management Matters with Mike Myatt; Web 3.0
November 20, 2008
By: Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth --As quickly as Web 2.0 arrived, it is being overcome by the next generation of digital applications and toolsets. Moreover, the need for broader understanding as to how to implement a more sophisticated...

Management Matters with Mike Myatt: Teach Them to Fish
November 14, 2008
By: Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth --Do you feed your employees, or do you teach them how to fish? Do you like to swoop in and save the day? Do you see yourself as the white knight that can...

Management Matters with Mike Myatt: Good Employees Are Not Expendable
November 07, 2008
By: Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth --Good employees are not expendable. As a CEO running a company during tough economic times, if your strategy to survive the economic downturn is to implement a slash and burn approach to cost...

Management Matters with Mike Myatt: Surviving the Economic Downturn
October 17, 2008
By: Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth --As odd as it may sound, if you want to survive the economic downturn, increase your marketing expenditures. If you're the short-sighted CEO who cuts back on marketing, branding, and advertising budgets in...