Stewart’s Expands, Purchases 45 Jolley Convenience Stores

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Stewart’s Shops announced last Friday that it had signed an agreement to purchase the assets of the Jolley Associates convenience store chain.

The acquisition includes 45 Jolley stores total — 38 in Vermont, 5 in New York, and 2 in New Hampshire. Local Jolley locations include Clifton Park, Lake George, Queensbury, and Plattsburgh. The shops will operate as Jolley stores in the short term, but will eventually rebrand as Stewart’s over the next few years, according to Stewart’s Public Relations Manager Robin Cooper.

The deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Terms are being kept confidential.

“We are thrilled to have this opportunity to acquire a company with such an impressive reputation in a market that we’ve been watching for many years,” said Stewart’s Shops president Gary Dake in a statement. “One of the primary reasons we were drawn to this deal is because of the quality and the character of Jolley’s employees.”

Jolley Associates was formed in 1977 by brothers Bruce and Robert Jolley, who had owned convenience stores since 1974. Robert passed away in 2009, and his ownership stocks were passed on to his wife Mary Ellen Jolley.

“We are proud of what we have accomplished over the years and we are happy to know that Stewart’s is providing our employees an opportunity to have ownership in the business and will continue to treat them well,” said Bruce Jolley, president and co-founder of Jolley Associates. 

Stewart’s has also agreed to purchase Jolly’s sister companies S.B. Collins, a petroleum products company, and Clarence Brown, a heating fuel oil company. Both of the sister organizations are based in St. Albans, Vermont.