Drivers on State Road 54 going by 7-Eleven on Livingston Road may have noticed the 7-Eleven signs are gone.
The corporate parent of the convenience store chain, 7-Eleven Inc. — through its Southland Corp. affiliate — sold the 27-year-old store late last month to Sailfish Real Estate LLC of Brandon. The owner of that company, William McKnight, owns several convenience stores around the region, primarily using Circle K branding.
McKnight owns the much larger Automated Petroleum and Energy Co., which purchases and leases convenience store locations all over the state. The company requires entrepreneurs looking to lease to attend a mandatory 12-day training class, according to the company’s website.
It’s not clear how McKnight will handle the new location, except that it will no longer be a 7-Eleven. McKnight has yet to return a request for comment from late Wednesday morning.
The sale by 7-Eleven was part of a national effort to cut ties with 75 7-Eleven stores.
“There are many nice sites in this package that simply do not fit 7-Eleven’s current business model,” company vice president Robbie Radant said in a release last May. “All of these stores have solid merchandise sales, and should provide good opportunities for the right buyers.”
The store and land sold for $750,000, compared to the $225,000 Southland paid for vacant land back in 1986. Back then, State Road 54 was just two lanes, and far less competition was nearby. Now, however, a RaceTrac is located on just the other side of Livingston.
