YORK, Pa. -- Shipley Group is in the process of switching nine of its Mobil-branded gas stations to a Tom's brand of gasoline, reported The York Dispatch.
The move will put the Tom's brand of gasoline in the majority of its 24 stations in central Pennsylvania, said the report. Nine stores will continue to carry the Exxon brand.
At Tom's Stores, Mobil signs have been coming down in the last two weeks, replaced with signs of a tomcat wearing sunglasses and a tie, the report added. The Tom's brand is named for the company founder, [image-nocss] Thomas Shipley, who started the company in 1929.
Tom's had to transition away from Mobil gasoline because of a regulatory requirement of the merger of Exxon and Mobil. The new corporation, ExxonMobil, was required to stop selling Mobil brand gasoline in the Northeast, according to the newspaper.
The company had been working on the transition for several months, Don Conklin, the vice president of operations for Tom's Stores, told the Dispatch. It decided to go with its own brand of fuel. "We felt at this time, we have the expertise and could offer a more competitively priced brand, with the quality customers need," he said.
Another division of Shipley Group, Shipley Fuels Marketing, already supplies more than 100 private-brand stations in a 12-county area with the company's brand of gasoline. And the Tom's brand gasoline is already sold at a handful of Tom's Stores, the report said.
Mobil credit cards will continue to be honored at Tom's Exxon locations.
Along with gasoline, Shipley Group also sells heating oil, kerosene, diesel fuel and natural gas. Tom's Stores installed an E85 pump at one of its stations last year, becoming the first and so far only retailer of the E85 ethanol fuel in York County, it said. The company has said over the next two years it plans to open six more E85 pumps.
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