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.