The ampm brand (rarely "am/pm") is a convenience store chain with branches located in several U.S. states, including Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, recently in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida, and in several countries worldwide, formerly including Japan. The ampm brand is owned by BP America, Inc., a subsidiary of BP, which acquired its founding owner, Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO), in 2000. In the US, the stores are usually attached to an ARCO or BP-branded gas station. The first location opened in Southern California in 1978.
With the division of ARCO between BP and Tesoro, West Coast franchising rights were split between BP (Washington, Oregon and Northern California) and Tesoro subsidiary company Treasure Franchise Company LLC (Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Southern California).
Franchised and BP-owned units of ampm are also found in parts of Mexico, usually co-located with a Pemex which is the only company that provides gas, and Brazil, usually attached with an Ipiranga station. In Argentina and Chile they can be found in Repsol-YPF/ACA stations.
In Spring 2008, U.S. branches of the BP Connect brand of convenience stores rebranded to ampm, which also brought the brand under the BP banner after exclusively being under the ARCO banner. The subsequent decision saw markets with a large BP presence, such as Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Orlando, and Pittsburgh, instantly have ampm stores and subsequent TV ads in those markets, in order to establish the brand.
In August 2008, BP announced its decision to sell the majority of its retail operations in the Orlando area to Apopka-based Medallion Convenience Stores. The ownership change-over was scheduled for a staggered timeline throughout November 2008. Also in 2008, the Indianapolis stores were sold to Ricker Oil (which now operates them under the BP/Ricker's identity). In August 2012 it was reported that BP had divested, or was planning to divest, all ampm operations East of the Rockies.
The Japanese chain was sold, alongside BP's other interests to Japan Energy (JOMO) in 2002, but then resold to Reins International Inc, an operator of Korean-style restaurants in Japan, in 2004. In November 2009, FamilyMart announced its acquisition of am/pm Japan. All ampm stores in Japan then subsequently rebranded as FamilyMart.
References
External links
- ampm Corporate and U.S. retail stores website
