Greg Parker loves getting this question. “Do we really need another gas station?” The owner of the Parker’s Kitchen chain wants so badly to end the stigma that comes with his business. “Gas stations are what our grandfathers had, the place where you had your car worked on and refueled, and every transaction included checking the air in your tires and your antifreeze,” Parker said.
“What we offer is far different.” Parker, along with the owners of Refuel, Spinx and BlueWater Market, are changing the model with modern neighborhood stores that are brighter, cleaner and emphasize fresh food and where they say general merchandise revenue outweigh fuel sales nearly 4 to 1. So yes, Parker believes we need more.
A lot more. But please, don’t call them gas stations, he requests. Call them convenience stores.
Greg Parker (left), owner of Parker’s Kitchen convenience stores and gas stations, talks with real estate agent Leslie Turner in his store on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in West Ashley in 2020. “The average person buys gas every seven to 10 days,” said Eddie Buck, owner of locally based BlueWater, which operates about 20 stores between Charleston and the Hilton Head area. “We’re trying to establish a reason you would come to us four days a week.
” While the cigarette, beer, gasoline model is still alive, that’s not the clientele these convenience retailers are after. They want to be the place you grab a morning cup of coffee and sit outside and read the p.
