Quick Chek is a privately owned, Whitehouse Station, New Jersey based chain of convenience stores with 140 stores in New Jersey and New York. The first store opened in Dunellen, New Jersey in 1967, and has since then grown into a chain. Several stores include pharmacies, gas stations, and liquor departments.
There are less than a gross of Quick Chek stores in New York and New Jersey.
A gross is 144.  The passage says there are 140 Quick Chek stores in NY and NJ, so there are definitely less than a gross.  I assume the agent does not know the numerical meaning of a "gross."
( z1 store :mod ( z2 company :name ( z3 name :op "Quick" :op "Chek" ) ) :quant ( z4 less-than :op ( z5 gross ) ) :location ( z6 and :op ( z7 city :name ( z8 name :op "New" :op "York" ) ) :op ( z9 state :name ( z10 name :op "New" :op "Jersey" ) ) ) )