Fuel For Thought
Saturday, March 30, 2013 @ 4:21 AM
Prince George, B.C. – It has been rumored for years and the calls from the public for such a development have been well documented. But the bottom line is this, the possibility of Costco putting a gas bar in at its Prince George outlet remains an internal company matter, and you will have to wait to see whether it actually happens.
The price of gasoline in Prince George is a very hot topic, no matter what time of year you’re discussing it. Generally gas prices in the city are some of the highest in the entire province, despite the fact there is a refinery right in town. Motorists are currently paying $1.31.9 to $1.32.9 per litre. The highest price in B.C. is $1.40.6 per litre in New Westminster, $1.39.9 and $1.38.9 throughout the Lower Mainland.
The lowest price, $1.20.9, is being charged at service stations in Kamloops. Quite frequently the price charged by Kamloops retailers is dictated by what the Costco there outlet is charging. Costco locates the cheapest gas it can find and then trucks it in to locations such as Kamloops. And residents of Prince George have been hoping that same scenario would be applied here.
We were directed to Costco’s national office in Ottawa for comments about a gas bar here. Company spokesperson Ron Damiani says “We never comment on strategic elements on where we are going or where we’re not going, whether it’s adding something like gas stations or whether it’s opening new locations in a specific market. It’s a long process as you can well imagine. Sometimes we request zoning changes and things just kind of sit there for a while, so we just never provide comments on that.”
Damiani says if and when it happens the company will make the appropriate announcement.
Comments
“We never comment on strategic elements on where we are going or where weâre not going”
Seems the City, the Province, Dan McLaren and Brian Fehr are not as good as Costco at doing the same thing.
I wonder if Costco employees have been advised of the same thing as New York City police, do not write about work on social media sites. ;-)
The refinery in PG will not sell to Costco so the problem is where can they truck it in from and still make a profit. But they will also consider the extra memberships they could sell just because of the cheaper gas. If they were smart they would put in not only a gas station but a larger tire shop too!
Last I heard though was Sherry wasn’t going to give them a building permit unless they built it downtown!
At least some Petrocans get their fuel from the refinery here in town…
Costco employees have been advised the gas bar will go in this spring – completed by June/July. I can’t wait!
The local refinery requires the same price everywhere. What should happen is the refinery and all the gas stations should be fined for price setting! The have gone insane with prices. It’s time for a mass protest at the REFINERY, and all husky stations ( refinery is owned by husky). I think it is about time we stand up to them.
It better be huge!!….ever try to get tires changed over or rotated at Costco in the spring or fall? You don’t want to be in a hurry!
“Sometimes we request zoning changes and things just kind of sit there for a while, “
Interesting. The way council seems to be changing the OCP and spot zoning all the time lately, this surprises me. Guess they didn’t use L&M to present them.
I was also told by a store employee that the gas bar is coming in June.
If Costco won’t speak on the matter to the media what makes you think they would tell some lowly employee about it?
Job is out for tender right now
Where in God’s name would they put a gas bar???? That parking lot can’t afford to lose even one space.
And if it comes thru, I hope they have 93/94 octane.
Where in God’s name would they put a gas bar???? That parking lot can’t afford to lose even one space.
And if it comes thru, I hope they have 93/94 octane.
And a liquor store attached like Calgary Costco !
it is going in on the far corner just as you turn in off Wiebe road…rumour has it if we are smart enough to vote in an NDP gov. we have a chance at a booze depot…
prov: “rumour has it if we are smart enough to vote in an NDP gov. we have a chance at a booze depot…”
LOL.
If ‘we’ vote in an NDP government we will all need a lot more booze ! A drunken stupor until they get voted out !
“Generally gas prices in the city are some of the highest in the entire province, despite the fact there is a refinery right in town”
Gas was 1.41 in Montreal today and there are two refineries there and their combined production is 25 times that of PG.
My conclusion? Having a refinery in your city is completely irrelevant when it comes to the price you’ll pay for gas.
Having a refinery in PG should give you cheaper prices because transportation costs would be cheaper. However that doesn’t seem to make any difference.
I still believe that they charge us more because they can. Its just that simple. We are a captive market. Costco wont make much difference because they will have to transport gas from Edmonton.
NMG:
Prince George is nothing like Montreal! In Montreal corruption is rampant with under the table payments on civic contracts, shady land deals and greasy people involved.
Further,in Montreal the roads are crumbling and the contractors overcharge because they can! Montreal is a city up to it’s ears in debt and still held a big sporting event!
….on second thought forget what I said in the first sentence, it’s like we have a TWIN:P
LOL, that’s good ;)
NMG: “My conclusion? Having a refinery in your city is completely irrelevant when it comes to the price you’ll pay for gas. “
At least somebody gets it. I was starting to wonder there.
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