The gas pumps are dry at the Conoco service station in Sun City West. Ironically, to save customers money.
The final gallon was pumped last month, and the pumps now all have the easily-identifiable yellow Out of Service bags over the handles. The shop has turned its full focus to the other services it has long offered: complete automotive services and repairs, and used car sales.
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Sun City West auto station ends gas sales
Posted
By Steve Stockmar, Independent Newsmedia
The gas pumps are dry at the Conoco service station in Sun City West. Ironically, to save customers money.
The final gallon was pumped last month, and the pumps now all have the easily-identifiable yellow Out of Service bags over the handles. The shop has turned its full focus to the other services it has long offered: complete automotive services and repairs, and used car sales.
Gas sales were always a very small part of the operation, explained Gunnar Magnuson, the store lead and salesman. In fact they "never really were selling a lot of it."
"We weren’t here to make money selling gas. We never made money selling gas, it was just a break-even type thing," Mr. Magnuson said at the shop on Dec. 7.
However, not selling enough of the stuff saw their delivery prices increase an extra $1,500 per delivery as a result. That meant the shop would be over-paying for gas, which would force it to raise prices for their customers on a product that was a minor part of the shop’s services anyway.
"If I was raising my gas prices I’d be well over $3 a gallon," Mr. Magnuson explained.
The shop wanted to avoid the appearance of over-charging customers based on the circumstances, nor could they compete with neighboring gas pumps charging as much as 40 cents less per gallon.
So, they made the decision to dry the pumps for good. First the unleaded sold out, then the final premium sale came Nov. 29.
"We did some math, and if I’m selling gas to break even at $3.20 a gallon, I don’t want people to assume that we’re that high because I want to make money," Mr. Magnuson said.
Eventually the tanks will be removed from the ground and the pumps will be pulled after, likely in early 2018, Mr. Magnuson noted.
The shop will continue to focus on its main priorities including everything automotive, from engine service to body work and transmissions. The shop, which specializes in European cars, will still offer the free services it always has, like oil and fluid inspections and tire checks. The business is also a successful used car dealership.
And the on-site convenience store, with everything from lottery tickets to cigarettes, will remain open.
Conoco is the second local body shop to stop selling gas in the past month. In November, Greenway Family Auto, at 15030 N. 99th Ave. in Sun City, after 30 years did away with its gas pumps to focus solely on automotive repair for similar financial reasons.
"We weren’t happy about it. A lot of people counted on us having fuel for their golf cars. We’re one of the last mom and pop stores out of Sun City that offered fuel," shop owner Domenick Lopano said at the time. "We did the calculations and it was just gonna take such a long period of time to get our money back."
Conoco
Where: 18855 N. R.H. Johnson Blvd., Sun City West
Store Hours: 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Monday through Friday; 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Saturday; closed Sunday
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