Name: Who Owns America’s Gas Stations?
Uploaded: 2021-04-23T08:49:52.000Z
Duration: 11 min 24 s
Description: VoiceTubeの動画で発音を聞きながら英語表現を覚えよう！学べる英語：

Gas stations line the roads and highways across the United States,

93% of Americans live within 10 minutes of one.

They arguably comprise one of the most important retail businesses in the

country. There are 152,000 convenience stores in the US.

Put another way, one out of every three stores in the U.S.

But those who follow it say most Americans know very little about it.

While convenience store retailing has so far been spared the sometimes

catastrophic disruptions that have hit other segments of retail, the

fuel and convenience business is going through some profound changes of

its own. For much of their history, gas stations have been, and still

are today, small, locally owned businesses.

For their owners, they often represent a path toward the American dream.

One of the things that a lot of folks don't actually realize is that

almost two-thirds of the industry is still single-store owner operated.

Meaning that your local gas station may be owned by somebody who lives at

the end of your street. But in recent years, the industry has

The smallest companies, those with anywhere from 100-200 stores, are

being bought up by bigger chains or are otherwise going out of business.

And it is getting harder for the little guy to survive.

The first commercial fuel pump in the United States was sold to an

The kerosene pump was invented by a man named Sylvanus

Freelove Bowser. He patented his design two years later.

The first dedicated gas station opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania within

two decades. But it wasn't until the 1970s when modern fuel retailing as

The first oil embargo in the 70s really set the stage for convenience

stores to sell fuel. There was technology to sell fuel, but people

didn't really consider 'I can pump my own gas and save a cent a gallon'

or something like that. But that first oil embargo really changed the

philosophy of people, 'I'll pump gas, I'll save a cent.

Take the cost out of the system, it goes to the customer.'

The second oil embargo in 1979 raised the price of fuel above one dollar

for the first time, a huge price hike for the era.

Up to that point, fuel stations had been more like service stations, but

convenience stores began using a self-serve model that is common in 48

Only Oregon and New Jersey still require a gas station attendant to pump

There are basically three places a customer buys fuel.

80% of convenience stores have fuel pumps attached and 80% of the gas in

the country is sold at convenience stores.

The other 20% is sold at standalone gas stations.

These are often attached to a traditional service station that does

The other channel is what is called the hypermarket, a term for big box

stores such as Costco, Wal-Mart and Sam's Club.

These outlets sell three times the volume of a typical convenience store,

but there are only a few of them, so they comprise only about 10-15% in

As of December 2019, there were 152,720 convenience stores

operating in the United States, down less than 1% from the 153,237

I'd say the landscape of ownership and fuel and convenience can be very

hard to understand at times, and it can actually get very complicated.

There are more than 100,000 distinct companies in the convenience and

62.1% of the market is made up of single-store owners.

That is, as it sounds, owners who own just one store.

It is somewhat difficult to see this since many, if not most fuel

stations often bear some kind of corporate logo, typically from a

petroleum company such as Shell or Chevron.

Despite the corporate logo, though, these are still independently owned

businesses. Owners of these stores often have some kind of franchise

deal with the fuel provider to share costs, but the stores are not owned

of the convenience and gas station market is controlled by larger chains,

which includes familiar corporate brands such as 7-Eleven and Circle K.

But most of the chains in convenience and fuel retail are regional.

WaWa, Sheetz, Race Trac, and Casey's General Store are all brands

well-known in different regions of the country.

About 15% of the total market is controlled by chains that are 500 stores

or more, and most of those are regional chains with a few national

brands thrown in. But that share of the market is growing.

In 2019, the largest chains added 312 stores over the

previous year and the second largest tier of companies in terms of store

Every other tier lost stores with the biggest losses among independently

Part of the reason for this change is what the stores are selling and how

they look is changing dramatically as well.

As these businesses move away from the “cokes, smokes, and gasoline”

model, and more into products like fresh prepared food, some independent

and smaller owners are having a hard time keeping up.

Right now what we're seeing is some of these one-store operators are

finding it a little bit harder to stay in business with some of these

companies that are continuing to up the ante on food, because people are

time starved. When they come to buy gas, they're often looking to solve

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