Rmarts LLC has acquired two legacy Shell gas stations with convenience stores in Highland Park, Illinois, from John Kyle Sr., a longtime Shell operator, Ryan Razowsky, president of Rmarts told CSP. The Northbrook, Illinois-based retailer, now with 13 stores in the Chicago area, closed on the deal in June.
Kyle worked for Shell for 50 years as a sales representative and as a dealer, according to Razowsky. Skyle’s two sons, John Jr. and Mike, were helping him run the business. He still has one location in Bannockburn, Illinois.
“He is in his 80s and had been looking to take a step back for a while,” Razowsky said. “But it took us a while to get the deal done. He was ready to sell, and then he wasn't ready to sell. And then he was ready. In some ways, it's probably easier to buy several hundred stores than it is for smaller operators like us to buy a few stores with a limited team.”
Highland Park is an upscale suburb north of Chicago. Both locations are on heavily travelled Highway 41 at busy intersections. One station, near the Chicago Botanic Gardens, “has been there for a long time. And it was one of the early Shell ‘Experience the Difference’ (ETD) rebuilds they did in the 90s as part of that program,” said Ryan Razowsky. It is across the street from a Thorntons station that opened about 12 years ago. That competitor, however, is “baked into the business already.”
“Dan and my job is trying to modernize the facilities and bring them into 2024,” he said. Ryan’s brother, Dan Razowsky, is operations and marketing manager for Rmarts. “They haven't had a significant investment in over 20 years. They're both just very strong legacy locations that require an investment and some creative juices to bring them to modern standards.”
The company will begin remodeling the interiors of the stores this fall to convert them to the Rmarts brand by the spring. It has remodeled three stores and converted them to the Rmart brand in the last two years. “Our hope is to do these two stores plus one additional store this year, which would get us up to six stores,” said Ryan Razowsky.
Foodservice Learning Opportunities
“We're going to update the coffee equipment and put in bean-to-cup machines,” he said. “We're going to enhance and build upon the existing foodservice program.”
The two stores currently have a foodservice program through which they make their own sandwiches.
“The sandwiches that they're making really are pretty good,” he said. Varieties include subs, Kaiser bread sandwiches and peanut butter and jelly (PB&J), among others.
The sandwiches sell “really well,” said Ryan Razowsky. “It's in some way, shape or form better foodservice than we're doing at other locations. So it's been a learning opportunity to just understand what they were doing and how well. We're going to enhance the menu and come up with some more robust sandwich options and take the sandwich program to the next level.”
The two stores also bring in bagels and cream cheese from a local deli, Once Upon a Bagel, as well as Rosati's pizza on a daily basis. Rmarts also has partnered with and will add Carol’s Cookies, a local favorite. “We sell tons of them,” Dan Razowsky said.
The retailer also plans to come up with better branding for the foodservice program, Ryan Razowsky said.
And the retailer is in the process of developing a new identity for its stores’ coffee program, currently under the Rmarts brand. “We're working with a local firm to develop a coffee brand. We're not just rolling out the coffee program there. We've done a test site already, and we're going to be overhauling our coffee program companywide,” said Ryan Razowsky.
Skinning the EV Cat
They are also completely overhauling the car wash at one of the newly acquired locations and plan to add electric vehicle (EV) charging. So far, Rmarts has tried EV charging at only one site several years ago, and it sold that location last year.
“It was a slow charge, and it was marginally successful at best. We never got the traction that we were looking for on the unit,” Ryan Razowsky said. “We were early adopters, and we tested it out and we weren't able to get a return on our investment, so we are looking to do it again, but we're going to change around the technology to match the latest, greatest technology. I don't know if anyone's really been able to figure out the best way to skin the cat and actually achieve a return on investment on that.”
Rmarts is a third-generation operator. The Razowsky’s grandfather started the business in 1951 operating Shell stations at downtown Chicago, and their father, Rob Razowsky ran it for 40 years. “We're continuing to carry it forward. We’re a family story of operating sites, mostly on behalf of Shell, for over 70 years,” said Ryan Razowsky.
Looking to the future, the Razowskys are currently evaluating opportunities for new-to-industry (NTI) stores, they said, and “consistently evaluating other acquisition opportunities in the Chicago area.”
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