Lexington-based Pitt Stop convenience stores sold to New York company

A New York-based convenience store company is buying 34 Pitt Stop convenience stores in the Columbia area as well as eight stand-alone Burger King restaurants, according to a news release from the company.

The sale means the loss of a major Midlands-based retailer that has touted itself in advertising as locally owned. Pitt Stop’s website says it employs nearly 800 people locally. The company also has been praised for its support of local charities.

The stores will sell for $70.1 million, with closing expected to be held by the fourth quarter of this year, according to the news release from Getty Realty Corp. of Jericho, N.Y.

Officials of Lexington-based Brandi Cos., which owns the Pitt Stop stores and Burger King restaurants, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Getty Realty Corp. is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that owns 736 properties and leases 87 properties in 24 states, the release said.

The purchase is a partnership with Applegreen, the largest convenience store and gasoline station operator in Ireland. Applegreen U.S. is headquartered in Long Island, N.Y., where the company also operates stores.

Applegreen, which operates 232 convenience stores and gasoline stations in Ireland, will lease the Columbia area stores from Getty.

The release noted many of the Pitt Stop stores contain national restaurant brands, including Burger King, Subway and Blimpie.

“This acquisition extends our reach into South Carolina, in the desirable and growing Columbia market,” Christopher J. Constant, Getty’s chief executive, said in the news release.

Brandi Cos. founder Bob Brandi, a 1970 Irmo High School graduate, started in business in 1974 after spending four years in the Army, according to the company’s website, pittstopstores.com. He began by operating a two-bay Texaco station. In 1980, he opened his first Pitt Stop Convenience Store in Ballentine.

In 1991, Brandi founded gasoline-and-fuel wholesale distributor Brandi Petroleum. With the acquisition of seven stores from Wrightway Stores in 1998, the chain grew to 25 stores.

In 2002, Brandi purchased a group of six more stores and became a Burger King restaurant franchisee.

Brandi’s charitable activities include raising money through his businesses for the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Leukemia Society, the American Diabetes Association and the Children’s Miracle Network.

Brandi has sponsored a golf tournament for the local Muscular Dystrophy Association for 17 years. Tara Heil, executive director of the Columbia association, said she met with Brandi Co. officials about the sale.

“We certainly have enjoyed our partnership with Brandi for 17 years,” she said. “I’m excited about the opportunity.”

Heil said she has not met with Applegreen officials “but they are (known as) a very charitable company,” she said.

Applegreen’s website — applegreenstores.com — notes that the company donates 1 cent to charity for every purchase made at their stores. The company has collected 312,415 Euros, or $358,129, from their Irish stores for charity since the beginning of 2016.

The Website adds: “The Charitable Fund lies close to the hearts of all of us who work in Applegreen and the fund is further boosted by ongoing fund-raising activities and events organized by Applegreen staff.”

This story was originally published July 11, 2017 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Lexington-based Pitt Stop convenience stores sold to New York company."