Sunoco LP Employees Receive Pink Slips Ahead of 7-Eleven Acquisition

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Sunoco LP is laying off 110 employees of Stripes LLC ahead of 7-Eleven Inc.'s acquisition of the convenience store chain, reported the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. A report from the Texas Workforce Commission shows that the Nueces County employees received the pink slips last week.

Further layoffs are in store, although the timing and size of the workforce reduction it not yet known, said Alyson Gomez, a spokeswoman for Sunoco.

Gomez stated that 112 roles, a slight difference from the commission report, are largely located in the support center for Stripes c-stores. Some employees have already been offered positions with 7-Eleven, but all are being offered severance packages, she added.

"We are concentrating our business model around a simplified wholesale business that provides significant scale and cost efficiencies," Gomez said.

In April, 7-Eleven announced plans to buy more than 1,100 stores from Sunoco for $3.3 billion, as CSNews Online reported. This is the impetus for the layoffs, Gomez confirmed.

The Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend's rapid response team has reached out to Sunoco to offer assistance to affected employees, according to the report. The agency can help those who lose their jobs find new employment and offer crisis counseling, financial planning assistance and stress management.

The team prioritizes situations where employees have "become unemployed through no fault of their own," said Monika De La Garza, a spokeswoman for the organization.

Sunoco expects the layoffs to be complete by October.

The 7-Eleven deal will also lead to 94 layoffs from Sunoco's Newtown Square, Pa., offices, reported Philly.com. A formal layoff notice filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry states that Sunoco will shrink its workforce in the area to approximately 150 employees. The layoff notice is effective Oct. 13.

"Sunoco LP will continue to have a presence in the Philadelphia area while we maintain the functions needed to support the remaining critical elements of our business," Gomez said.

As with the Texas layoffs, 7-Eleven may also extend job offers to some of the Pennsylvania Sunoco employees.

Dallas-based Sunoco is a master limited partnership that operates approximately 1,340 retail fuel sites and convenience stores (including APlus, Stripes, Aloha Island Mart and Tigermarket brands) and distributes motor fuel to convenience stores, independent dealers, commercial customers and distributors located in more than 30 states at approximately 6,900 sites. Energy Transfer Equity LP owns Sunoco's general partner and incentive distribution rights.