State-wide convenience store chain forced to shut all 25 stores

Wisconsin convenience store and gas station chain The Store is being forced to close all of its 25 locations. The Store, established in 1976, will shutter its businesses at the end of July. It also has locations in Michigan.

But this is not the story of another retail chain getting into financial trouble or being hit with falling sales. The Wisconsin staple was forced to close after the company that owns its buildings and land, Mountain Express Oil, entered Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year.

A property investment company that bought the land does not plan to extend the deal for The Store to operate there. It is thought will either build on them or get a new company - perhaps a national gas station chain like Chevron - to operate the sites.

But The Store's parent company Team Schierl said it is working with the next operator to ensure current employees will be hired in their current roles after the transition, WSAW-TV reported . Chapter 7 bankruptcy is more serious that Chapter 11, and means a business has not intention of carrying and sells all its assets. Chapter 11 is considered a reorganization bankruptcy.

In recent months, there has been a spate of bankruptcies adding to store and restaurant closures. On Monday, we reported how BurgerFi - which touts itself as an upmarket McDonald's - has sparked concerns of mass closures after revealing it is considering bankruptcy.

Bosses are looking at Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which would allow it to get out of leases for its worst performing restaurants and sell off the contents - as Red Lobster did last month . In fact, Red Lobster has shut almost 100 after it filed for bankruptcy in May. It is considering shutting as many as 135 more.

National coffee and upmarket grocery chain Foxtrot said at the start of April it will shut all its stores with immediate effect - leaving staff and customers stunned. Meanwhile, retailer Express - a mall staple - filed for bankruptcy in April and said it would shut 95 outlets.

The closures form part of a larger downturn in US retail as almost 2,600 stores have already closed so far this year. Big names including Macy's, Walmart, Walgreens, Foot Locker and 7-Eleven have all said they are closing shops.

Discount stores like Family Dollar and bankrupt 99 Cents Only have been worst hit, as have drugstores like CVS and Rite Aid. If the closures were to continue at the same rate for the rest of the year they would total 7,800 in 2024 - almost 40 percent more than the total in 2023. Bricks-and-mortar locations are struggling in the face of competition from online.

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