Petrol Station Owners

[Norman]

Does anyone else feel like we have way too many petrol stations these days? I mean, competition is great, but the market surely is saturated now.

Thankfully the new X Convenience on the corner of Miller Street and Diagonal Road was knocked back at the CAP meeting last night, thanks to a very vocal opposition by local residents.

[rev]

Does anyone else feel like we have way too many petrol stations these days? I mean, competition is great, but the market surely is saturated now.

Thankfully the new X Convenience on the corner of Miller Street and Diagonal Road was knocked back at the CAP meeting last night, thanks to a very vocal opposition by local residents.

If they want to spend their money, or go into debt financing new service stations, that's their problem.

[SBD]

Does anyone else feel like we have way too many petrol stations these days? I mean, competition is great, but the market surely is saturated now.

Thankfully the new X Convenience on the corner of Miller Street and Diagonal Road was knocked back at the CAP meeting last night, thanks to a very vocal opposition by local residents.

If they want to spend their money, or go into debt financing new service stations, that's their problem.

I wonder if there is something in the trading laws that makes it attractive to have a fuel business attached to convenience stores of a certain size.

I find it odd that both KFC and Macca's are proposed to be in the new service centre at Nuriootpa. I couldn't tell from the diagram if there is proposed to be any kind of "local" shop in the complex, perhaps directly attached to the fuel shop. I imagine the target market is people who's next stop will be Loxton, Renmark or Mildura, and their last stop was south or west of the Port River Expressway. They need an easy way to take home "a taste of the Barossa".

[rev]

Does anyone else feel like we have way too many petrol stations these days? I mean, competition is great, but the market surely is saturated now.

Thankfully the new X Convenience on the corner of Miller Street and Diagonal Road was knocked back at the CAP meeting last night, thanks to a very vocal opposition by local residents.

If they want to spend their money, or go into debt financing new service stations, that's their problem.

I wonder if there is something in the trading laws that makes it attractive to have a fuel business attached to convenience stores of a certain size.

I find it odd that both KFC and Macca's are proposed to be in the new service centre at Nuriootpa. I couldn't tell from the diagram if there is proposed to be any kind of "local" shop in the complex, perhaps directly attached to the fuel shop. I imagine the target market is people who's next stop will be Loxton, Renmark or Mildura, and their last stop was south or west of the Port River Expressway. They need an easy way to take home "a taste of the Barossa".

There could be.
But think of it from a business perspective if you can. You can have a service station, with some basic things for sale like bulbs for headlights and some engine oil or coolant, some drinks and snacks. You will get a few people come in and buy those things particularly drinks and snacks.
Or..you can have a service station which is basically a mini supermarket inside and has several fast food options, throw in an automatic car wash and a manual car wash, and you now have hundreds of people if not thousands coming in every day spending their money.

Look at the basic Liberty station on Hanson road. Not very busy.
Look at the nearby OTR's in surrounding suburbs. Busy all day long. They probably get more customers at night and the early hours then most Liberty's get during the day.

Another comparison. The original OTR on David Terrace, renovated. But all it has inside besides being a mini supermarket is their own Moes hot dogs.
It's not as busy as other OTR's with Hungry Jacks, the bakery etc..

And this is what X Convenience is trying to replicate in their own way. And it's working well for them.
Coincidentally their original service station is on Torrens Road around the corner from the original OTR/BP.

As much as I dislike both groups, if X Convenience keep going they'll soon be as big as OTR is now. I don't think Agostino with their AM/PM outlets will expand too much, but they did bring Carls Jnr, be interesting to see if they go further with that.
OTR is like a billion dollar business at least. That's good for SA. Even better if we get another big one. It will be even better when they decide to diversify like the Shahins have with The Bend motorsport park. Hopefully property development in the City isn't too far off. Samaras cranes/engineering have diversified with their Kyren Group.

Better locals then multinationals or national enterprises. The consumer gets screwed one way or another eventually, but at least with local companies more of the money stays here in our economy.

[Eurostar]

Ampol is back, the service station at Holden Hill has new signage up

[ghs]

Does anyone else feel like we have way too many petrol stations these days? I mean, competition is great, but the market surely is saturated now.

Thankfully the new X Convenience on the corner of Miller Street and Diagonal Road was knocked back at the CAP meeting last night, thanks to a very vocal opposition by local residents.

Surely if the petrol station expansion continues over the next year or two then we will see a lot of them close down in 5 years or so. It's getting ridiculous.

[cmet]

Does anyone else feel like we have way too many petrol stations these days? I mean, competition is great, but the market surely is saturated now.

Thankfully the new X Convenience on the corner of Miller Street and Diagonal Road was knocked back at the CAP meeting last night, thanks to a very vocal opposition by local residents.

Surely if the petrol station expansion continues over the next year or two then we will see a lot of them close down in 5 years or so. It's getting ridiculous.

They wouldn’t be building them if the the data didn’t tell them there was sufficient demand. Always found it amazing that OTR can have two profitable stations literally 100m apart, but it’s working.

It will be extremely interesting however when electric cars start to gain a strong foothold (sales of EV’s roughly double each year). You get the sense that the petrol station industry could be forced to massively evolve in a relatively short period of time.

[SBD]

Does anyone else feel like we have way too many petrol stations these days? I mean, competition is great, but the market surely is saturated now.

Thankfully the new X Convenience on the corner of Miller Street and Diagonal Road was knocked back at the CAP meeting last night, thanks to a very vocal opposition by local residents.

Surely if the petrol station expansion continues over the next year or two then we will see a lot of them close down in 5 years or so. It's getting ridiculous.

They wouldn’t be building them if the the data didn’t tell them there was sufficient demand. Always found it amazing that OTR can have two profitable stations literally 100m apart, but it’s working.

It will be extremely interesting however when electric cars start to gain a strong foothold (sales of EV’s roughly double each year). You get the sense that the petrol station industry could be forced to massively evolve in a relatively short period of time.

OTR and X-convenience are chains of convenience stores. They will adapt to sell whatever people want to buy, and under whichever regulations are most convenient. There are a few OTR facilities that don't sell fuel at all. I expect that if the market moves far enough, some of the others will stop too. Just like only a few of them provide the large facilities with high-flow diesel to fill semi trailers and road trains.

[bits]

6 pump locations in a fairly large facility.
Petrol prices listed at the bottom of the sign.

Petrol is part of their offer, it is not their only offer.

These are not petrol stations with a pie warmer.
They are convenience stores with petrol.

[ChillyPhilly]

North East Road is gross.

Car culture is gross.

[cmet]

6 pump locations in a fairly large facility.
Petrol prices listed at the bottom of the sign.

Petrol is part of their offer, it is not their only offer.

These are not petrol stations with a pie warmer.
They are convenience stores with petrol.

Sure, but if there is say a 10, 20, 50% decrease in demand for fuel, these places will still get significantly less foot traffic. 5 stores being viable in a suburb may turn into 1 or 2.

[SBD]

6 pump locations in a fairly large facility.
Petrol prices listed at the bottom of the sign.

Petrol is part of their offer, it is not their only offer.

These are not petrol stations with a pie warmer.
They are convenience stores with petrol.

Sure, but if there is say a 10, 20, 50% decrease in demand for fuel, these places will still get significantly less foot traffic. 5 stores being viable in a suburb may turn into 1 or 2.

In the early days of personal motor vehicles, the existing convenience stores started selling drums of petrol. I guess we might return to a similar situation, but with bulk rather than packaged liquids. Convenience stores will survive where they can adequately differentiate their product (including location). Two OTRs within 100m might consolidate, or might further differentiate with only one having fuel.

My usual commute route (20 minutes across suburbs) passes two OTR, one Caltex/Wooworths and one Shell/Coles Express. The alternate route passes two other OTRs and two Liberty fuel outlets. My last thee visits to OTR were because it's a convenient place to buy afternoon tea after a medical appointment, not for fuel. I don't think any of them are set up to handle refuelling large trucks (even though the newest Liberty is in an industrial area), but three on main roads have space for a truck or two to pull up while the driver goes in to the shop.

[rev]

Awww come on guys, how's the little guy (as the owner was once quoted on the news as referring to him self at one of his 39 servos) going to afford another McLaren super car to go roll racing at The Bend Motorsport complex (ironically owned by his "competition") once a month if you don't let him build another servo?

Assessment panel considering X Convenience petrol station plan for Sturt shifts meeting to Morphettville Racecourse after huge response

A council has been forced to move a crucial meeting over a controversial petrol station plan because of unprecedented public backlash.
Renato Castello
Renato Castello
@Rencastello
2 min read
November 7, 2021 - 2:06PM

It’s traditionally horses vying for victory at Morphettville Racecourse but Adelaide’s premier racetrack will host a showdown of a different kind – and the stakes for some couldn’t be higher.

After losing round one in its fight to build a new petrol station at Sturt, South Australian company X Convenience will again face off against opponents to a planned $2.8m outlet in Adelaide’s southwestern suburbs in what has been dubbed a “David versus Goliath” battle.

Marion Council’s assessment panel will meet on November 17 at the racecourse to hear arguments for and against the proposal on the corner of Diagonal and Miller roads, which attracted a council-record 280 comments during public consultation.




The huge interest, together with 38 people indicating they want to put their case before the panel, has forced council to shift the meeting from its council chamber to larger premises at the racecourse’s Phar Lap room, which can accommodate up to 270 people.

X Convenience opponent Mark Linn, who along with opponents letterboxed 3000 homes in the neighbourhood against the plans, was not surprised by the number of submissions.

“It sends a message to X Convenience that it’s not wanted in this particular site … it shows there’s community support (against the plans),” he said. “It always has been a David versus Goliath battle.”

Mr Linn, who lives next door to the proposed outlet, has written to the council’s chief executive Tony Harrison requesting the council provide a community bus to transport residents to the meeting which starts at 3pm.



X Convenience lodged updated petrol station plans for the former Fresh Choice Buffet Restaurant site in August nearly a year after the council’s panel unanimously rejected an earlier proposal, which it argued was inconsistent with the desired character of the zone and a “pedestrian-friendly environment”.

The project also failed to meet design and appearance benchmarks, including landscaping, a summary of the refusal said.



The new plans were lodged under the new planning and design code, introduced in March, which triggered wider public notification of the plans.

The council said there were representations “for and against” the petrol station plan, which show the outlet would have eight petrol bowsers, a four-bay car wash, 315sq m convenience shop and parking for 17 cars.

The fuel retail would trade between 5am and midnight but an acoustic engineer, for the company, had previously recommended the car wash be restricted to 7am to 10pm.

X Convenience has proposed an acoustic fence to neighbours and increasing the landscaping buffer between neighbours.

The company has previously argued the project was consistent with the planning zone.

Doors open to the Morphettville Racecourse meeting from 2.30pm. Numbers will be limited. The council is also proposing to broadcast the meeting via Zoom.

*An earlier story incorrectly stated the petrol station was at Oaklands Park

https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/sou ... 3f0e215111

[HiTouch]

I hear those petrol station chains make good laundries to wash and dry money.

[1NEEDS2POST]

How do they stay in business when their petrol is more expensive than the other servos?