Ryan Oil Company Is Sold

Ryan Oil Company Is Sold

8/12/2007
Bob Petrie
Sheboygan Press staff

Through the years, Ryan Oil Co. and Quality State Oil have never really been rivals in the Sheboygan-area gasoline and convenience store market more like friendly colleagues in competition.

So when Muriel Ryan decided to retire after 33 years in the oil business, she figured it made the most sense to sell her five stores in Sheboygan, Sheboygan Falls and Oostburg to Quality State, which operates the Q-mart chain.

"It's the end of an era, but I think Quality State has a very good name in the community and they're basically locally-owned," said Ryan, 73, who founded the company in 1974 with her late husband, Don.

The deal was finalized July 30, and the former Ryan stores are now officially Q-marts, although the signs with the familiar shamrocks have yet to disappear.

"The shamrock is going to go back to Ireland," Ryan said with a laugh.

Q-mart now has 22 locations

The deal gives Q-mart 22 locations in several cities, including Sheboygan, Sheboygan Falls, Oostburg, Plymouth, Neenah-Menasha, Fond du Lac and Sturgeon Bay. Terms of the transaction were not released.

Greg Bultman, 62, president of Quality State since 1988, says acquiring the Ryan's stores was a good move. The two sides had been talking "off and on" over the past six to nine months about the deal, Bultman said.

"The stores are established, they're good stores, they have an excellent customer base and they fit right into our market," Bultman said.

Even though they basically competed for the same customers &mdashpeople looking for a place to pick up a loaf of bread, gallon of milk or to fill up their cars fast &mdashboth Ryan and Bultman said they did so amicably.

"We've always been friends. We have basically carried on a very congenial relationship within the same realm, belonging to the same oil associations and so on," Ryan said.

"So you could classify it as competition, but it's been a very congenial, very hospitable type of a relationship."

Bultman agreed.

"Quality State tends to be a friendly competitor in all the markets we operate in," Bultman said. "That's kind of the reputation we want to have. We want to be first in line to serve the customer with the lowest and best prices, and we want to be friendly with our competition."

Gas prices shouldn't change

Despite Quality State's acquisition of the Ryan's stores, gas prices in the Sheboygan area shouldn't change much, because it remains a competitive market and stations are battling to keep their market share, said Erin Roth, executive director of the Wisconsin Petroleum Council.

"You have different marketers on different sides of the street, and they have to compete against each other for business," Roth said. "In this business, 2 cents (a gallon) swings customers. It's amazing."

About 45 people worked for Ryan's, with many of them being retained by Q-mart. The former Ryan's stores are already part of the Q-mart Rewards program, which offer customer discounts, Bultman said.

One of the Ryan's stores, the Jefferson Station location at 610 S. 14th St., is within a few blocks of an existing Q-mart at 1003 S. 14th St., but Bultman said both stores will remain open.

In fact, two existing Q-mart stores were already across the street from each other, on the northeast and southeast corners of South Taylor Drive and Washington Avenue in Sheboygan, and Bultman said both are thriving. "There are different traffic patterns," he said.

Family business began in 1974

Don and Muriel Ryan arrived in Sheboygan in 1974 to start their business after Don had worked for Standard Oil and Amoco Oil in the Chicago area for more than 20 years.

Over the years, Muriel Ryan said four of the couple's eight children worked for the company, among them Bob Ryan, now a Sheboygan alderman, who came up with the shamrock logo for the stores.

Bob Ryan, now 44, said he worked "off and on" for the family business since he was 11 years old.

"I used to drag the fuel oil hose on Saturdays for my dad," he said. "Back when it was a one-man show, he'd drive the truck, I'd drag the hose, and do the walks on Saturdays."

Don Ryan died in 2002. Bob Ryan will continue to operate his own convenience store in Plymouth not associated with Ryan Oil or Q-mart for the time being, though he said he plans to devote more time to his aldermanic duties.

Muriel Ryan said the sale will help finance her retirement, but she enjoyed running the business.

"I love every minute of it," Ryan said. "I love the people and I love the work and the endeavors.

"But I feel it's time," she added. "The time was right, the buyer was right, and I think it's time to move on and enjoy a little bit of retirement."

Reach Bob Petrie at bpetrie@sheboygan-press.com and 453-5129.