Two longtime, family owned convenience store chains in the Pittsburgh region have come together.
Coen Markets Inc. — a Canonsburg-based company that owns stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio — has picked up CoGo’s, which operates 38 locations in and around Pittsburgh. The deal closed last week. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Coen Markets traces its roots to 1923, when its parent company, Coen Oil, opened a single store selling gasoline in Washington, Pa. Prior to the acquisition, Coen Markets operated 28 stores under its Ruff Creek Market brand in Washington, Westmoreland and Greene counties.
Meanwhile, CoGo’s is more familiar to motorists passing its red and green logo in Pittsburgh and the southern and eastern suburbs. CoGo’s originated as a retail arm of Colteryahn Dairy in Carrick, which operated the last dairy facility in Pittsburgh until it was sold to Turner’s Dairy in 2017. (That sale did not affect CoGo’s.)
“The combination of Coen and CoGo’s should allow us to better delight and satisfy our guests and expand the reach and impact of our successful offerings,“ Charles McIlvaine, CEO of Coen Markets, said in a news release announcing the closing of the sale.
John Eby, the CEO of CoGo’s, added, “we are all excited and are looking forward to the new and bright future that Coen is enabling for our stores, our personnel and our customers.” Mr. Eby will stay with the combined company in a senior leadership position, according to the companies.
Mr. McIlvaine said while the CoGo stores will continue to operate under the CoGo name in the short-term, they will eventually operate under the Coen Markets banner when the company upgrades the stores.
The acquisition is part of a push by Coen Markets to expand into the Pittsburgh region.
The company lists three types of convenience stores: The largest stores are at least 4,500 square feet and have a drive-thru and full kitchen to prepare food; medium-sized stores that are 2,500 to 3,500 square feet and offer select food items; and the smallest-sized stores that are 1,500 to 2,500 square feet and have traditional “grab and go” convenience store offerings.
Daniel Moore: dmoore@post-gazette.com, 412-263-2743 and Twitter @PGdanielmoore
Story updated at 5:47 p.m. on Dec. 26, 2018.
First Published: December 26, 2018, 9:32 p.m.