By Shereen Siewert

Riiser Fuels, LLC, which operates 57 convenience stores throughout Wisconsin, will sell the business to a Virginia-based investment company, about 15 months after acquiring the company.

Dudley Investments LLC, Wildcatters LLC and Kemerling Investments LLC sold Riiser Energy in June 2018 to Don Draughon and J.D. Dykstra, who formed Riiser Fuels LLC to invest in the convenience store industry. Over the past year the company added more than 20 stores to its operation, according to the Riiser Fuels website.

“Riiser Fuels is committed to growing the chain within the upper Midwest into a regional company and expanding the brand throughout the region,” Dykstra said, in a June 2018 statement announcing the purchase.

But now the company will change hands again, this time to a major player in the convenience store market. GPM Investments, which operates about 1,400 convenience stores in 23 states, is expected to close on the sale in mid-November, according to corporate documents.

The move will mark the end of a 74-year history in Wausau, where Riiser’s corporate office is currently located.

More than 350 people are employed by the company, the majority of whom are expected to retain their jobs. Regional and district managers, along with store personnel, are expected to keep their current position and wages, but corporate staff in Wausau will be evaluated for job placement by GPM upon acquisition, corporate documents state.

Arthur Riiser started Riiser Energy in 1945. Fourteen years later his son, Tom Riiser, took over managing the business, operating it for 40 years. The business in 1999 was sold to Wausau-area entrepreneurs Jim Kemerling and Richard (Dick) Dudley, who served as chairman until his death in 2013.

GPM is one of the fastest growing convenience store chains in the country and was recently ranked #6 in the Top 202 Convenience Stores. Riiser Fuels’ locations are branded BP, Jetz, Amoco, Cenex and CITGO.

Terms of the sale have not been disclosed. Efforts to reach the company’s current owners were unsuccessful on Friday.