Running on Empty

Rising prices can force independent gas stations to sell fuel at a loss — or lose business. Consumer advocates fear California’s unbranded dealers could be wiped out, weakening competition.

Lured by a discount of 6 cents a gallon, Erin Farrow drove past a Chevron station to pump $50 of no-name gas into her Ford Explorer one day last week.

She certainly wasn’t drawn by the ambience at O’Brien Station in northern San Diego County. And two weeks earlier, the nurse from nearby San Marcos probably wouldn’t have stopped at all because O’Brien’s price was 20 cents a gallon higher than at the Chevron and an Exxon outlet not too far away.

“I drove this way on purpose,” said Farrow, a dedicated bargain hunter who thinks nothing of laying out food ads, plotting a course and driving from supermarket to supermarket to get the best deals. “This station usually has the lower prices.”

For the moment, station owner Barry O’Brien can afford to provide the savings. But red ink has been mounting since last year, when O’Brien left the branded market after 40 years with Mobil, then Arco. Starting out on his own, he installed matter-of-fact signs that read: “O’Brien Station. Snacks. Repairs. Gasoline.”

LA Times