MONCTON, N.B. -- Canadian grocery chain Sobeys has officially launched its own line of gas bars in Moncton, New Brunswick, reported the Times & Transcript.
The station's new pumps, along with a convenience store, will launch the Sobeys Fast Gas brand of fuels after the concept was successfully test-marketed at three locations in Nova Scotia and one in Bathurst, N.B.
By the time we got our fourth store up and running, it had become patently obvious that this was something that our customers welcome, company spokesperson Gerald [image-nocss] Weseen told the newspaper.
The new store should be open before the end of this month, said the report.
It also marks yet another Moncton-area vendor of gasoline to offer discount coupons that can be used in the company's retail stores to buy food or other merchandise, the report added. For example, Sobeys Fast Gas outlets will offer coupons at a value of 3.5 cents per liter of gasoline, with the coupons redeemable in the company's stores.
The coupon concept was pioneered in Canada by Canadian Tire, which offers coupons for purchases in its stores and gas bars, providing the buyer uses cash or a debit card or selected credit cards. The value of the coupons varies depending on the amount of gasoline purchasedthe more you buy, the bigger the discountand on promotions that sometimes offer more discount coupons. Co-op gas stations also offer coupons on a sliding scale according to the amount of fuel purchased. Superstore gas bars offer 3.5 cents in coupons per liter of gasoline sold.
There are few gasoline retailers left in Metro Moncton that do not offer some type of inducement to customers, the Times & Transcript said, with many offering discounts on premium grade gasoline on selected days or discounted car washes.
Sobeys originally planned its gas bar for locations beside, or very close to, Sobeys stores. But during the test run, Sobeys found that locating the outlets near their grocery stores had little bearing on whether motorists would buy their gas at a Fast Gas outlet, because they found that often drivers do not buy their gasoline and their groceries during the same trip.
That was borne out, the report said, when Sobeys tracked discount coupons that were issued by their test store in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. Those coupons turned up at more than half of Sobeys' 83 stores in the Maritimes.
Sobeys expects to open 12 Fast Gas outlets across the Maritimes by the end of 2006, according to the report, some located next to grocery stores and some not.
The Moncton outlet's c-store will be about 1,500 square feet. It will be the first, but likely not the last, Fast Gas outlet accompanied by a substantial c-store. Other outlets will have a simple kiosk measuring about six feet by 12 feet, with simple offerings such as newspapers, drinks, chips, chocolate bars and cigarettes.
Metro Moncton could see another Fast Gas outlet at some point in the future, Weseen said. I would expect that, as for greater Moncton locations, there will be one, maybe two of them, but certainly no more than that, he told the newspaper.
Sobeys said it does not plan to be the aggressor in any gasoline price wars that might break out, the report said, instead using its store discount coupons to entice and keep customers. We probably would not be the first to put our prices up, and we probably would not be the last to go down, said Weseen.
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