Laval, Quebec – Irving Oil Limited and Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. have announced the expansion of their existing partnership to include 252 Irving Oil convenience retail sites across Atlantic Canada and New England. The two companies entered into a convenience retail partnership in the province of Quebec seven years ago.

The partnership expansion will provide both companies with the opportunities to serve more customers and to grow in the Northeast, including the southern New England states, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Under the expansion, 252 Irving Oil convenience stores in Atlantic Canada and New England would be operated by Couche-Tard. Of these, 128 are located in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Prince Edward Island; the remaining stores are in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont. Irving oil will retain ownership of the convenience retail properties and supply petroleum products to the sites; Couche-Tard will lease the properties at market value for the next 20 years, and buy the store equipment and inventories. The fuel pumps and canopies will remain Irving-branded, while the stores will operate under a Couche-Tard brand. The sites involved have annual average merchandise sales approximately $1.2 million per company-operated site, and an annual average petroleum volume of approximately 4.4 million litres per site.

Couche-Tard is the second-largest independent convenience store operator in North America, with a network of 5,690 convenience stores, 3,440 of which include motor fuel.