Maid O'Clover Sells All 19 C-Stores

YAKIMA, Wash. -- According to CEO Jeff Loudon, Yakima-based Maid O'Clover Corp. sold all of its 19 convenience stores, including nine in the Spokane, Wash., area, for $12 million in transactions approved in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, reported the Spokane Journal of Business.

"We’re out of the convenience store business," Loudon said. Of the Spokane-area stores, "Zip Trip bought four of them, and the balance (five) went to a consortium of Korean and East Indian people," he said.

The Zip Trip chain is owned by Jopo Inc., which now operates 35 stores in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and eastern Oregon, including 24 in the Spokane area. "We wanted to grow our business,” said Jopo vice president Ian Johnstone. "We have been operating them since last month."

Loudon and Johnstone both declined to disclose the terms of the transactions, but bankruptcy court records put the combined value of the four stores, which now operate under the Zip Trip name, at about $4 million. Minor remodeling and other changes were made to those stores, Johnstone said.

Loudon, meanwhile, declined to disclose the name of the consortium that bought the other five Spokane-area Maid O'Clover outlets. The remaining 10 stores operated by Maid O'Clover outside the Spokane area were sold to various groups and independent operators, Loudon said.

Maid O'Clover, a private concern, filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code on Dec. 30, 2002. Loudon declined to discuss the status of the bankruptcy proceedings, and it’s unclear whether the company has other operations.
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