NEW YORK CITY – Recently
this spring, several major newspapers reported on the demise of gasoline
stations in New York City and a Washington,
D.C., suburb. Those closures are symptomatic of a larger, nationwide
phenomena—the gradually decline of gasoline stations, The Daily Beast reports.
A century after the first
retailer started selling gasoline, service stations are little by little easing
into the sunset. Each day, three or four gasoline stations go dark. Some sell
out to developers because the land is more valuable than their business. Some
can’t compete against the Costcos and Walmarts of the area. Some are victims of
more fuel-efficient vehicles and changing driving habits.
According
to National Petroleum News, the station count has dropped for seven consecutive
years. Within a decade, the number of gasoline stations has declined around 8%.
Jeff Lenard, NACS spokesman, points to the 1990s as
when the decrease started as hypermarkets, such as supermarket chains and
discount retailers, started selling gasoline. Recently, technology and the
economy has put more pressure on gasoline stations.
“The volume of gasoline
sales peaked in 2007,” said Lenard. The Energy Information Administration found
that Americans bought 3.389 billion barrels of gasoline that year, but each
year since, that consumption has dropped. Last year, the number was 6% lower
than 2007.
Other contributing
factors include more environmental rules for selling gasoline, and a denser
population in cities, college towns and close-in suburbs that might eschew cars
altogether.