Yesway has sold its 29-store portfolio in Iowa and Kansas to Texas-based convenience retailer Now & Forever for $21 million, including payment for inventory. The deal marks Yesway’s exit from the Midwest and ends with an unexpected buyer, as Nebraska-based convenience retailer Mega Saver had previously announced plans to acquire those locations.
The deal included 22 convenience stores in Iowa and seven in Kansas. Yesway now operates around 420 convenience stores across eight states, after debuting its first site in Arizona this month.
Acquisition Details
Now & Forever operates over 20 convenience stores in the Houston area, according to its website. This acquisition more than doubles its store count and pushes the company into two new states and an entire new region of the country.
Representatives from Now & Forever did not respond to comment on the acquisition. The deal had been in the works for a year and a half, and Yesway will use the proceeds to strengthen its balance sheet and support its current plan to open 130 new convenience stores over the next five years.
Yesway’s Strategy
“This transaction is fundamentally about putting our capital to work where we believe it can generate the greatest long-term value,” Tom Trkla, chairman, president and CEO of Yesway, said in the announcement. The sale advances Yesway’s strategy of redeploying capital into investments with higher-return potential.
The sale had been a long time coming, as Yesway was first reported to be looking to sell these 29 locations in February 2025. At the time, a company spokesperson said these stores didn’t match Yesway’s strategy and that they were expected to sell by the end of 2025.
Despite Mega Saver’s initial announcement, the transaction still had not closed nearly a year later. The change in buyer raises a point about when and why the transaction shifted from Mega Saver to Now & Forever.
Representatives from Yesway and Mega Saver did not respond when asked about the transaction or what happened to the previously reported agreement with Mega Saver. They did not provide any information about the circumstances surrounding the change in buyer.
Tom Trkla stated that the transaction is about putting capital to work where it can generate the greatest long-term value.
