OXXO is opening in Texas. It is more than a convenience store

An OXXO store with Western Union services in Oaxaca (Photo: Business Wire)

By Imelda García | Dallas Morning News (TNS)

OXXO, the popular Mexican convenience store chain, will enter the U.S. market, with an emphasis on Texas.

Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA), the brand’s owner, announced in a news release it acquired 249 DK convenience stores, owned by Delek U.S. Retail, as part of a $385 million deal.

FEMSA plans to transform them into locations of OXXO, the most established store in Mexico. Ninety percent of DK stores are in Texas.

“Oxxo’s entry into the U.S. market, especially Texas, endorses a deeper integration every day,” Francisco de la Torre, Mexico’s consul in Dallas, told The Dallas Morning News. “It is a palpable sign that the importance of Mexico for Texas and Texas for Mexico is not comparable to any other state in the American union.”

OXXO’s presence in Mexico is remarkable, with more than 20,000 stores across the country, including in rural communities with no supermarkets nearby. Eighty percent of the stores are within eight minutes of any consumer in Mexico.

FEMSA owns all stores; there are no franchises. Some operate under a merchant contract business system that allows entire families to operate a store and receive a commission for its management. The company did not clarify whether this arrangement will also be employed in the United States.

“At FEMSA, we have a long-standing ambition to enter the convenience and mobility industry in the United States,” said José Antonio Fernández Garza-Lagüera, FEMSA’s chief operating officer of Retail Operations, in a statement. “We have been building and expanding our retail operation in Mexico for more than 45 years, eventually reaching ten other countries in South America and Europe.”

The store sells retail and food items and offers money transfers and banking at checkout counters.

The penetration of the OXXO brand in Mexico is cultural and has inspired memes and songs. Social media networks have thousands of references to the brand, its employees, or its products, always with a touch of humor. OXXO even inspires art.

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