Mexico mega-chain Oxxo enters US market, to take over DK stores in Texas, New Mexico

The owner of Mexico's Oxxo convenience stores is crossing the border and expanding to parts of West Texas and New Mexico.

Fomento Económico Mexicano, or FEMSA, based in Monterrey, Mexico, has agreed to buy the 249 DK convenience stores from Tennessee-based oil refiner Delek US Holdings for $385 million in cash. About 90% of the 77 DK convenience stores operate in Texas, with some in New Mexico and a small presence in Arkansas.

The deal was announced on Aug. 1 and is expected to close by the end of 2024.

Delek stores sold to FEMSA

The pending sale comes only 18 months after Delek completed renaming its 7-Eleven-branded stores in El Paso to its new DK brand. The stores sell the company’s Alon-branded gasoline.

Delek has owned the convenience stores for seven years.

Delek officials said in a statement that they expect to make a future deal with FEMSA to continue supplying gasoline to the stores. The El Paso stores currently get gasoline from Delek’s oil refinery in Big Spring, Texas.

FEMSA to add US to company portfolio

FEMSA has long wanted to enter the U.S. convenience store market, “and this transaction represents the ideal way for us to take our first step in this compelling market,” Jose Antonio Fernandez Garza-Laguera, chief executive officer of FEMSA's retail operations, said in a statement .

Oxxo had 22,658 stores in Mexico, including in Juárez, and 1,022 stores in South America at the end of June, according to its latest financial report. FEMSA has operations in more than 17 countries .

FEMSA officials in February 2023 announced a long-range plan to focus on its three core businesses: retail stores, Coca-Cola products' bottling in Mexico and eight other Latin American countries, and digital platforms, anchored by its Spin by Oxxo electronic transactions system and credit card.

As part of the new plan, FEMSA in May 2023 sold its major stake in Heineken, the giant beer brewer.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Mexico mega-chain Oxxo enters US market, to take over DK stores in Texas, New Mexico