CARROLLTON, GA - An article in the Times-Georgian reports that as gas prices have failed to rise as much as expected during the transition to summer-blend fuel, convenience store owners and managers have begun to feel optimistic about their in-store sales opportunities.
According to the AAA, Georgia gas prices are roughly $2.57 a gallon, much lower than the $3 per gallon analysts had predicted by Memorial Day. As such, petroleum and convenience store retailers are reporting higher sales inside the store.
The manager at a Texaco station in Carrollton reported an increase in in-store sales, a rise he attributes to both lower gas prices and higher outside temperatures.
Jim Tudor, president of the Georgia Association of Convenience Stores, said inside sales provide a much better profit margin for retailers than gasoline, especially when gas prices are high.
"When gasoline was $4 a gallon, credit card companies were making 12 cents a gallon and sometimes that is all the (gross) profit," Tudor said, adding that in-store sales usually reflect the economy.
While he said that tobacco and alcohol sales have not increased greatly and that interchange fees have taken a sharp bite out of retailers?? bottom-lines, lottery sales provide modest dividends, with retailers earning about a nickel for each ticket sold.
"We have to have them [lottery tickets] because people aren??t going to go to different place to make two purchases," Tudor said. "They??ll go somewhere else for the lottery ticket and the other items they may have bought."