How many gas stations are enough?

spitfirebill said:

It seems Walgreen's model is similar to Burger King's.  Walgreens will build across the intersection from a CVS, just like Burger King used to build across the road from McD's.  Come to think of it, Sam Walton may have come up with that concept, because he would build a new Walmart store near a Ben Franklin Store.         

Zoning laws are a part of this.  Cities want certain types of businesses to be in certain areas, and frequently won't let them build elsewhere even if they want to.

In reply to Hal :

I figured anywhere along that stretch would probably fit the bill . Not far from SWMBO's parents' house, right off the Irwin exit on the Turnpike, there are now two Sheetz stations more or less across the road from each other.

We have the same thing going on around here.  If a CVS opens, there's a Walgreens across the street.  Gas station/ convenience store on a street or a corner, two more will open up within spitting distance. Don't  even get me started on Dunkin Donuts, they'll put one on each corner of an intersection if they can and two on each corner of there is only one parking space to be shared by 3 businesses they share the strip mall with. My town was pretty  rural about 15-20 years ago. Now it has become just another suburb that is too far away from Boston  to be useful. I blame all the city people that have to have everything under the sun at their finger tips. You supposedly came here to get out of the city and live in the country, now you ruined the rural aspect of the town. Get off my lawn!

You realize that if none of them are closing, then there is enough business to support them, right?

Perhaps the better question would be, if there is enough demand to support 14 gas stations along a short stretch of road, why WOULDN'T businesses build them??

Not building a station when there is solid business to support it is a little like throwing money down the toilet. 

In reply to Furious_E :

From there in Irwin with the 2 sheetz, to my house in Greensburg so 13 miles, there are 9 currently. Jeanette is adding 2, with 3 in the works in Greensburg. and that's JUST on 30, none of the ones in town or on side streets. 

We have a Starbucks across the street from a Starbucks, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, just seems excessive. 

Edit: aside from the sheetz, none have diesel, and no E85 either. 

While there are newer technologies coming, the smart money (for the people able to get it) is to invest in making current, proven, amortized technologies more convenient for the end user.

...And then to never put paper in the receipt printer. “Clerk has receipt” right next to the impulse items.

I bet there are less than a quarter of the gas stations around here now, compared to 1980 when I moved here.  They are kinda clustered together, so it looks like there are lots sometimes.

Nobody wants to put up with the environmental rules around here.  If you own dirt that might have had a gas station on it in the last century, nobody will lend money on that property without some really expensive testing and potentially remediation.

In reply to SVreX :

You're absolutely right. I know for a fact that Sheetz will not build a store unless there is a <12/18 (forget which) month payback on the location. 

I live in a small town with only one 4 lane highway and one state highway, we have 7 gas stations and there building an 8th one.  2 of them exist mostly to sell booze and lottery tickets, 2 are owned by the same chain on opposite sides of town and the shell is always 20 cents more a gallon but offers semi truck sized diesel pumps.