OXXO, the popular Mexican convenience store chain, will enter the US market, with a focus on Texas.
Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA), the owner of the brand, announced in a press release that it had acquired 249 DK convenience stores owned by Delek US Retail in a $385 million deal.
FEMSA plans to convert them into locations of OXXO, the most established store in Mexico. 90 percent of DK stores are in Texas.
“Oxxo’s entry into the US market, especially in Texas, promotes deeper integration every day,” said Francisco de la Torre, Mexico’s consul in Dallas The Dallas Morning News. “It is a tangible sign that the importance of Mexico to Texas and Texas to Mexico is unparalleled by any other state in the American Union.”
OXXO’s presence in Mexico is remarkable: the company operates over 20,000 stores nationwide, including in rural communities where there are no supermarkets nearby. 80 percent of the stores are within eight minutes of any customer in Mexico.
FEMSA owns all of its stores; there are no franchises. Some operate under a contract system that allows entire families to run a store and earn a commission. The company did not say whether this concept is used in the United States.
“At FEMSA, we have long had the ambition to enter the convenience and mobility industry in the United States,” said José Antonio Fernández Garza-Lagüera, chief operating officer of FEMSA’s Retail Operations, in a statement. “We have been building and expanding our retail business in Mexico for more than 45 years, and have now reached ten other countries in South America and Europe.”
The store sells retail and grocery items and offers money transfer and banking services at the checkout counters.
The spread of the OXXO brand in Mexico is cultural and has inspired memes and songs. On social networks there are thousands of references to the brand, its employees or its products, always with a touch of humor. OXXO even inspires art.
