Future of Gasoline Stations in Food

More retailers are finding profits in fueling the body, not the car.

April 05, 2011

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - Rocky Mountain C Stores President Gary Dean is betting that the future of his stores is not in the fuel pumps outside but in the food served inside. Dean will add a drive-thru foodservice window at one of his locations this summer, the Daily Sentinel reports.

All across the country, retailers are looking for ways to keep customers coming into their stores by teaming up with foodservice companies, like Starbucks and Subway, said Dean. Having the right merchandise mix inside can make or break a convenience store.

"You can??t sell gas alone and make it anymore," Dean said. "If you don??t change, you??re going to go out of business."

Dean points to swipe fees as part of the reason why gasoline sales are not as profitable anymore. "You can??t go out there and negotiate a lot with big credit-card companies," he said. Sales at convenience stores also provide stations with enough funds to purchase more fuel, said Dean.

Some gasoline retailers have yet to fully recover from the last time pump prices soared into the $4 level. At the Atlas Conoco, manager James Shanahan said sales haven??t bounced back to 2007 or 2008 levels, when 1,300 to 1,600 gallons of gasoline were sold each day. "Now, we sell 2,000 gallons a week," he said.

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