Casey’s General Stores Inc. will close Dec. 14 on the acquisition of nine Bullseye convenience stores in Missouri, the company has announced. Casey’s plans to retain all employees. It will integrate its prepared foods program in the stores, which are owned by PICS Marketing Inc. and Ridgerunner Properties LLC. They have been operated by Cox Oil. Co. Inc. Casey’s operated 284 stores in Missouri at the end of July 31. Cox will continue to operate nine other Bullseye stores in Missouri.

When it comes to surfing the Web for holiday gifts this season, most workers plan to browse on their own time, a new Accountemps survey shows. Nearly four out of five (77 percent) professionals surveyed said they are not planning to shop online while at work. Those who said they will be hunting for holiday bargains during business hours are likely to spend less time doing it. Employees said they plan to shop online an average of 1.9 hours a week, down from 2.7 hours when the same question was asked in 2007.

The Des Moines Association of Realtors Foundation has presented $18,000 in grants to seven organizations that support housing needs of women and children. The grantees are Children and Families of Iowa, Anawim Housing, Hope Ministries, YMCA of Greater Des Moines, Orchard Place, House of Mercy and Iowa Homeless Youth Center. The foundation is supported by a portion of the dues paid by members of the Des Moines Association of Realtors and member donations. The foundation funds housing projects and needs throughout Greater Des Moines.

Wells Fargo & Co. was unseated as the top lender of residential mortgages in MortgageDaily.com’s third-quarter production ranking, which is based on quarterly earnings reports, public filings and information supplied by lenders. Overall, home loan production dropped 22 percent in the third quarter, but is 40 percent higher than a year ago, MortgageDaily.com said. Bank of America Corp. moved from second to first in the rankings, with $98 billion in loans during the third quarter. Wells Fargo was the second-leading lender, with a drop in volume of more than 25 percent from the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. ranked third, GMAC Financial Services fourth and U.S. Bancorp fifth, with the best quarterly performance among the top 10 lenders.