SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-- Stewart's Shops dropped its gasoline prices 10 cents "across the board" Friday at 11:00 a.m., the retailer announced on Facebook.
"Despite the recent storms and the economic chaos around the world, we have recently seen the gas market costs come down, and we wanted to celebrate this with our customers," Stewart's Shops president Gary Dake said. "It looks like the speculators are getting out of the crude market for now, and that has helped bring about this good news."
This will be the third time Saratoga Springs, N.Y.-based Stewart's Shops has dropped gasoline prices a dime on all grades, the company said. The first was in October 2008; the second was in May 2010.
Tom Mailey, a spokesperson for Stewart's Shops, told FOX23-TV that after looking at the oil trends on Wall Street, the company made the decision to give customers a break sooner, rather than later. "The market has been chaotic, but over the last few days we've seen the price really come down," he said. "And we decided to have a little celebration."
The storm Dake referred to was Hurricane Irene; in early September, several Stewart's Shops were either without power or closed due to flooding when the storm hit the Eastern Seaboard.
Regarding Stewart's Shops efforts during the storm, customer Chad Johnson recently posted the following statement on Stewart's Shops' Facebook page:
"On the Sunday that Irene hit, we were passing through the devastated area that was Schoharie County .... We made it to Esperance, and we were running very low on gas around 1:30 a.m. ... We were so happy to find that the Stewart's shop at Esperance was open with every pump full of cars and DOT vehicles coming and going from it. We found out inside that the manager and employees decided to stay open that night after they realized they were just as trapped as everyone else so they might as well help out by being open. I suspect that Stewart's was a happy respite for a lot of people fleeing Schoharie County, wayward travelers on Route 20 and DOT/emergency personnel who were responding to the disaster. I hope that the contribution of those employees was recognized because it was extremely appreciated!"
In other company "good news," Stewart's Shops' store in Halfmoon, N.Y., had its third million-dollar lottery winner in two years. A customer won $3 million on a "Triple Million" ticket sold at that location.
Stewart's Shops is an employee and family-owned convenience store chain known for milk, ice cream, coffee, food to go, gasoline and more. There are 328 Stewart's Shops located in more than 30 counties across upstate New York and southern Vermont.
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