BP Buys Travel Centers of America

[Alpha8472]

BP Buys 281 locations averaging about 25 acres each. I don't think I have ever seen anything that large in California. Are these places that popular?

https://chainstoreage.com/bp-13-billion ... rs-america

[rwsandiego]

Here in Arizona, Loves is very popular and they are packed whenever I'm on a road trip. It makes sense to me that TA and its sibling brands are also very popular.

[Brian Lutz]

TA seems to be a distant third to Loves and Pilot/Flying J, at least along the roads I travel on. They do have a fairly nice travel center in Boise that I have stopped at in the past as a convenient "halfway point" while traveling between Seattle and Salt Lake, although on the past few visits it seems like they haven't kept up with maintenance as well as they could be. I also saw that the Subway and Taco Bell inside this TA location aren't always operating, which seems to indicate that they are still having some issues with staffing.

One somewhat unusual aspect of the TA locations compared to Flying J or Loves is that they still operate their own sit-down restaurants (Country Pride) where these have largely falling by the wayside elsewhere as Pilot Flying J and Loves mostly just offer fast food.

[pseudo3d]

TA seems to be a distant third to Loves and Pilot/Flying J, at least along the roads I travel on. They do have a fairly nice travel center in Boise that I have stopped at in the past as a convenient "halfway point" while traveling between Seattle and Salt Lake, although on the past few visits it seems like they haven't kept up with maintenance as well as they could be. I also saw that the Subway and Taco Bell inside this TA location aren't always operating, which seems to indicate that they are still having some issues with staffing.

One somewhat unusual aspect of the TA locations compared to Flying J or Loves is that they still operate their own sit-down restaurants (Country Pride) where these have largely falling by the wayside elsewhere as Pilot Flying J and Loves mostly just offer fast food.

Most of the Country Pride/Iron Skillet restaurants don't seem to have re-opened after COVID, unfortunately.

[storewanderer]

A lot of TA's real estate is owned by Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT) or maybe that is under a different name now.

TA was on the edge of death for quite a few years with serious financial problems, and being bled dry by HPT's high lease rates. Over the past 5 or so years TA has really stabilized its business, finally made some improvements to facilities, and seems to be doing a lot better.

It will be interesting to see what BP does with TA. I still find TA to usually be with lower quality of facility and higher prices than Love's or Flying J.

This also entered BP into the casino business as TA has two stops with casinos up in Sparks and Mill City (second Sparks one Sierra Sid's the casino is run by a tenant). That is a VERY valuable truck stop in Sparks where they own and operate the casino. Mill City is near dead, sad old place out there that had its day.

[Brian Lutz]

There are also two locations in Montana (near Missoula and Laurel) that have casinos as well. In fact it seems that almost all truck stops in Montana have small casinos in them.

[jamcool]

Does BP start putting am-pm stores in TA sites? TA used to run the Minute Market chain before selling off the non-TA attached sites. As it is, the am-pm banner seems to be fading out in places like Arizona, a lot of the ARCO sites are dropping the am-pm signs and going to the generic “food mart” signage.
It may be that Marathon is tired of paying BP for using the banner.
Also the TA operation uses a variety of fuel brands depending on region. Could we see a place for the Amoco brand to expand across the country.

[storewanderer]

There are also two locations in Montana (near Missoula and Laurel) that have casinos as well. In fact it seems that almost all truck stops in Montana have small casinos in them.

I can't tell if TA owns and operates those casinos or not.

In NV these are the ones they operate www.thealamo.com
What is funny is "Alamo" was the name of a long time truck stop in Sparks founded by a long time businessperson and politician in the area. At some point they franchised with Petro. At some point TA corporate bought the site, for many millions of dollars, and started to use that "Alamo" name on other stops where they had casinos.

[Super S]

TA seems to be a distant third to Loves and Pilot/Flying J, at least along the roads I travel on. They do have a fairly nice travel center in Boise that I have stopped at in the past as a convenient "halfway point" while traveling between Seattle and Salt Lake, although on the past few visits it seems like they haven't kept up with maintenance as well as they could be. I also saw that the Subway and Taco Bell inside this TA location aren't always operating, which seems to indicate that they are still having some issues with staffing.

One somewhat unusual aspect of the TA locations compared to Flying J or Loves is that they still operate their own sit-down restaurants (Country Pride) where these have largely falling by the wayside elsewhere as Pilot Flying J and Loves mostly just offer fast food.

Most of the Country Pride/Iron Skillet restaurants don't seem to have re-opened after COVID, unfortunately.

A couple years ago I stopped at the TA travel center in Boise, and was kinda surprised that the restaurant didn't even open until 9AM. Maybe this was due to a lack of staffing due to COVID, I am not sure.

That Boise location actually has a long history as a truck stop...was originally Grant's, then Burns Brothers took over in the 1980s. They have always had a restaurant in some form there.

[retailfanmitchell019]

There are also two locations in Montana (near Missoula and Laurel) that have casinos as well. In fact it seems that almost all truck stops in Montana have small casinos in them.

So does Town Pump, a Montana gas station chain that's in bed with Pilot/Flying J for truck stops.
https://www.townpump.com/

Here in Arizona, Loves is very popular and they are packed whenever I'm on a road trip. It makes sense to me that TA and its sibling brands are also very popular.

I could see why. Love's has nicer, cleaner stores and lower gas prices than the other truck stop chains from what I've experienced. I stop at the one in Gila Bend when traveling between San Diego and Tucson.
In SoCal, TA has locations in Ontario, Wheeler Ridge (just before the Grapevine), Coachella, and Barstow. My family went in the Wheeler Ridge location on an RV trip years ago.