The Jolley convenience store and Mobil gas station in Williston on Tuesday, October 1. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDiggerStewart’s Shops has reached an agreement to purchase the tri-state Jolley convenience store chain, Stewart’s announced Monday.The sale, which requires federal regulatory approval, includes the 45 Jolley stores in Vermont, New York and New Hampshire and the acquisition of petroleum products distributor S.B. Collins, including its heating oil business Clarence Brown in St. Albans.“We are thrilled to have this opportunity to acquire a company with such an impressive reputation in a market that we’ve been watching for many years,” Stewart’s Shops president Gary Dake said in a written statement. “One of the primary reasons we were drawn to this deal is because of the quality and the character of Jolley’s employees.”The purchase represents a major expansion of the presence of Stewart’s in New England.The announcement came a week after Times Union reported that the Dake family, which founded Stewart’s, plans to sell its majority share in the company to its employees. The family’s shares, which make up 60% of the company’s ownership, will be sold under a 20-year divestiture plan.The purchase also brings together two regional family businesses. Stewart’s, founded as a single ice cream shop in 1945, is a family and employee-owned convenience chain with 360 stores throughout upstate New York and southwestern Vermont. The company, called Jolley Associates and founded 50 years ago by brothers Bruce and Robert Jolley, has 38 stores in Vermont and a handful of others in New York and New Hampshire.The company’s announcement did not disclose a purchase price.“We are proud of what we have accomplished over the years and we are happy to know that Stewart’s is providing our employees an opportunity to have ownership in the business and will continue to treat them well,” Bruce Jolley, president and co-founder of Jolley Associates, said in a statement.Read the story on VTDigger here: Stewart’s Shops to buy Jolley convenience stores.