CAPE COD, Mass. -- He couldn't get elected governor of Massachusetts, but he can save Cape Cod, Mass.-area consumers a dime a gallon on gasoline.
Christy Mihos, owner of the Christy's of Cape Cod chain of convenience stores and unsuccessful independent gubernatorial candidate last November, has made a deal with Stop & Shop Supermarket Cos. that makes its discount gas coupons worth something on Cape Cod, according to a report in Boston Globe.
As Stop & Shop does throughout the Northeast, its 17 stores on the Cape [image-nocss] and Islands give loyalty-card holders who buy at least $50 worth of groceries coupons entitling them to save 10 cents a gallon on fuel bought from Stop & Shop stores that have gas stations.
The problem: The closest of the 26 Massachusetts Stop & Shop stores that sell gas are on the other side of the Cape Cod Canal, according to the report. For tens of thousands of shoppers who live or stay on the Cape, that's made the supermarket coupons effectively worthless.
Among the Stop & Shop officials who heard plenty of grousing from customers was Dick Clifford, manager of the store where Mihos and his wife, Andrea, do most of their family shopping.
"He mentioned how his customers were complaining about no place to redeem the coupons on-Cape," Mihos told the newspaper. "So my wife told me. And starting [this past] Friday, there are places on-Cape to redeem the coupons. I want to give Dick credit for planting the idea. He does care about his customers."
After working through contacts at Stop & Shop, Mihos and the supermarket company agreed on a deal that allows people to redeem the coupons at 12 Christy's of Cape Cod stores that sell gas.
Stop & Shop will reimburse Christy's for half of the discounts it gives customers using the coupons, Mihos said.
The 12-store Christy's operation on the Cape is a corporate remnant left over after Mihos and his family sold their 132 other area stores to 7-Eleven in 1998. And for Mihos it has continued to be a solid business.
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