BOWIE, Md. -- Safeway Stores Inc. expanded its fuel program in early December with its second grocery store and gasoline station combination in the Washington, D.C., area, opening a location in Bowie, Maryland. The latest site joins 13 other grocery and gasoline combinations in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware.

Nationwide, grocery stores are adding fuel pumps to their lineup of coffee shops, cleaners, flowers, bakeries and banks in an attempt to be a one-stop shopping location, the Washington Times report.

"Everyone is crunching for time and the fewer stops, the better. ... The fuel centers are an extension to that philosophy," said Greg Ten Eyck, a spokesman for Safeway's Eastern division. "Wherever we can put them, we put them."

"Whether Safeway, Wal-Mart or Home Depot, they're looking to use the underutilized parking areas as a profit center and, at a minimum, a traffic driver," NACS spokesman Jeff Lenard told the newspaper. "They're getting you to buy gas there with the hopes that you go inside and fill up the shopping basket."

In the U.S., approximately 3,800 grocery and discount stores and 112,000 convenience stores sell gas, according to NACS.

Competition in the grocery arena has accelerated change at traditional gas stations, Lenard told the newspaper. Their margins on fuel are low and they must rely on selling gourmet coffee, sandwiches and other products to make a profit. "They just don't make their money at the pump," he said.