BALTIMORE, Md. – To a Baltimore resident, there are a few things synonymous with the city, such Maryland blue crabs, the Baltimore Orioles, the Inner Harbor and Crown stations. But just as residents have had to grow accustomed to blue crab shortages and its baseball team losing Cal Ripken Jr. to retirement, they now have to prepare for the loss of Crown.
“Crown, a name long synonymous with gasoline in Baltimore, is fading away in Maryland,” writes the Baltimore Sun. A rebranding process that began two years ago is expected to be complete by year’s end, as roughly 150 Crown-branded gasoline stations and convenience stores will become Chevron, Texaco or Shell locations.
The newspaper writes that the Crown name will remain at a few Baltimore stations where there are brand conflicts, notes Petroleum Marketing Group Vice President David Noland, which owns the locations in Maryland and Virginia, adding that a Crown executive conveyed to him that five to 15 Crown stations “would continue doing business” in Maryland.
Even though Crown’s brand name is disappearing in Maryland and Virginia, there are about 100 Crown gasoline locations in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. “The brand is not gone,” Crown Vice President and General Counsel Andrew Lapayowker told the newspaper.
“It’s certainly not going to be as prevalent as it once was, at least in the immediate future,” added Lapayowker. “We intend to keep it alive and hope to sign up more folks to carry the brand.”
Crown’s history in Baltimore stretches back nearly 100 years.
“They were a significant force in the marketplace,” F. Peter Horrigan, president of the Mid-Atlantic Petroleum Distributors Association, told the newspaper, adding, “Over the last 10 years, they've just been adrift.”
Dealers see national brands such as Texaco, Chevron and Shell as “a way to attract consumers with oil company credit card points and other loyalty programs” in today’s “highly competitive market,” writes the newspaper, noting that customers and dealers are attracted to “credit card rebates” and other loyalty incentives offered by the larger brands.
“With the cost of the product today, credit card volume is up substantially,” Horrigan told the newspaper, adding, “People don't have $40 or $50 in their pockets to fill up their cars.”
Meanwhile, retailers such as Jeff Kamali believe that the rebranding will boost his business. His Columbia, Maryland, gasoline station was recently converted from a Crown station to the Shell brand.
“The Crown name is dead. It's done…. They sold everything,” he told the newspaper, adding that Crown was “a fine company,” but that he has to “move with the times.”