Panacea Global Inc. (fka PANG)

[Mr. Bill]

Price Oil Co. debuts here (Birmingham AL) with $3.5M combo shop

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2004/03/15/story2.html

Price Oil Co. debuts here with $3.5M combo shop
Gilbert Nicholson
Staff

Developers are hoping a new $3.5 million travelers' convenience center on the western end of Birmingham International Airport will draw motorists off Interstate 20/59 with a combination of gasoline, convenience store, barbecue, car wash and laundromat.

The company-owned store under construction at the intersection of Tallapoosa Street (Alabama Highway 79) and East Lake Boulevard is launching Price Oil Co.'s entry into the Birmingham market with a bang.

Price Oil already is a well-known name in Birmingham. The distributor sells gasoline to a variety of local convenience stores and governmental vehicle fleets. Price Oil has some 140 dealers in Alabama and northwest Florida and 20 company-owned stores.

But this project marks Price Oil's first retail center in the Birmingham metro area and represents the trend of making traditional travel convenience stores into profit centers. Slim margins on gasoline sales are pushing the emergence of the new travel centers, says Price Oil development coordinator Scott Armstrong. "People aren't really making money off gas nowadays," says Armstrong. He said he was buying gas for $1.60 per gallon wholesale earlier this week and selling it retail at his convenience stores in Montgomery for $1.64.

"The only way to succeed is cross-marketing; you bring together as many profit centers as you can, such as car washes, restaurants, laundromats - any combination to create traffic and take a piece of property and make it pay for itself," he says.
'Dressing it up'

The project's eye-catching centerpiece is a replica of an air traffic control tower at the end of Runway 24 designed to direct cars, not planes, to the 6,400-square foot retail center. "We wanted a unique-looking facility," says Armstrong, whose grandparents started Price Oil in 1963. "We're dressing it up pretty good."

The center features a car wash with price levels named after aircraft; the deluxe wash will be the 747. Discussions are under way to open a Golden Rule Barbecue franchise with 75 seats occupying almost half of the retail center. After the convenience store is finished in May, work will begin on a non-attended, card-locked diesel fuel terminal targeting commercial fleets of local businesses.

The company has hired former Auburn University all-star football center Ben Tamburello as its Birmingham point man.

At first glance, it would seem Price Oil is jumping into the frying pan, with the popular Cowboy's travel plaza directly across Highway 79, also known as the Tarrant-Pinson Highway. But Armstrong, who praised Cowboy's for having a successful concept, says his retail center is not a truck stop and is positioned to compete for a different clientele.
Demand is there

Further, Armstrong says, a retail study commissioned by Price Oil finds unprecedented demand at the intersection of Tallapoosa Street and East Lake Boulevard near the I-20/59 exit, even with Cowboy's in the mix. IMST Corp., a Houston, Texas retail analyst, found 65,000 cars a day tool up and down that stretch of Highway 79. Some 25,000 cars each day pass along East Lake Boulevard.

"They said there are very few intersections anywhere with that much traffic and no real modern conveniences," Armstrong says.

Armstrong says the store will attract northbound traffic exiting off I-20/59.

"We'll roll the dice against anybody if you can get me a right-off, right-in, off the interstate," Armstrong says.

Price will offer Exxon fuel, a branded gasoline with additives, that Armstrong admits costs a few cents more per gallon as opposed to the unbranded gas sold at Cowboys.

"Some people shop for price. But some want branded fuel with additives," Armstrong says.

Although Cowboy's has a Blimpie's sub sandwich shop, Armstrong says the Golden Rule, if a franchise can be secured, and a coin-operated laundry with equipment from industry leader Dexter Co., will create a synergy to attract a diverse customer base.

Jarrett Shadday, a Rome, Ga., businessman who developed Cowboy's with partner Larry Martin, did not return a call seeking comment.

Construction by Oil Equipment Co. is under way on Price Oil's Birmingham store. Architect on the project is David Breedlove of Rodney L. Sartain Inc. Purchase of the 5-acre site was brokered by Jay Moss of Moss Properties, who currently is helping Price Oil with site selection in the Birmingham area. The company is looking for sites for five similar retail centers in Trussville, Calera and Hoover.

Meanwhile, Armstrong adds the new center required the demolition of an abandoned chrome-plating facility that was an eyesore.

Contact BBJ senior reporter Gilbert Nicholson at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail].