PASADENA, Md. -- Two new grocery storesone in Pasadena, Md., the other in Hickory, N.C.will bring gasoline pumps to their parking lots for the first time.
In Maryland, Giant Food will open its first gas station in the state early next year, picking Pasadena as the latest target in the increasing competition for consumers' grocery dollars.
Customers will be able to buy food, get their prescriptions and fill their tanks at a discount when the pumps open at the Lake Shore shopping center, Jamie Miller, a spokesperson for [image-nocss] Giant, told Landmark News Service. Construction began last month.
"We're looking at a February 2008 opening of the gas station," he said.
Miller said the chain plans to add other gas stations in the future, but would not provide details.
The Pasadena location will have five self-service fueling islands with the option to pay by credit or debit cards at the pump, or pay by card or cash at a kiosk.
Customers will be able to save money on gas by accruing discounts with the store's existing BonusCard program and coupons based on purchases of groceries. Miller declined to say how much of a discount would be offered.
"We feel we'll be competitive with any other gas station in the area," he said.
Meanwhile, Lowes Foods opened its first gas stationthe Lowes Foods Fuel Centerin Hickory, N.C. The station is in the parking lot of the Lowes Food store in the Sandy Ridge Square Shopping Center.
"We have opened the fuel station as another added convenience for our customers," Dianne Blancato, a spokesperson for Lowes Foods in Winston-Salem, told the Winston-Salem Journal. "It makes it very easy for them to come and do their shopping and fuel up with fuel while they are there. They don't have to go to another location and drive any farther to do that."
The station features 12 pumps and a small kiosk where customers can buy such convenience items as cigarettes, drinks and ice. The station provides three grades of gasoline, plus diesel fuel.
Kenny Herbst, an assistant professor of marketing at the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University, told the newspaper that the fueling station is a traffic driver for Lowes Foods, a way to make the chain's stores more enticing in terms of a one-stop gas and supermarket stock up.
"So it's beneficial for the consumer and beneficial for it (Lowes Foods) in terms of a competitive advantage against the competition," Herbst said.
Lowes Foods is also offering customers fuel rewards through its Lowes Foods Rewards loyalty program.
Blancato said having a station helps provide more value to Lowes Foods customers because the supermarket chain can offer them special prices based on their purchases at its store.
Based on initial sales and customer response, the company is exploring options for adding fuel stations at Lowes Foods stores in other markets. It plans to open the second Lowes Foods Fuel Center in Gastonia, N.C., in February.
Lowes Foods employs 8,500 people and operates more than 100 stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
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