Shell to buy Western Canada Sobeys gas operations

[marshd1000]

This is actually old news from December 2022!

https://www.shell.ca/en_ca/drivers/cms- ... mited.html

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/ ... -1.6922985

[storewanderer]

Someone bought the Loblaw ones some years ago and promptly put Mobil branding on them (maybe some Essos).

I think most of the Sobey ones were unbranded.

[Super S]

Probably not related, but I have noticed a number of Shell stations have been rebranding in my area. Mostly Chevron, but I know of two which have rebranded to Sinclair now. (Sinclair has never had a large presence in Washington)

[storewanderer]

Shell brand has gotten somewhat anemic. They've always been high priced and a lack of a consistent convenience store program seems to be hurting them. Their loyalty card program is not bad but since their pricing is high it sort of is useless.

I used to see Chevron as the strongest gas brand out west, and Shell a close second. I am not really sure this is the case anymore.

We had some rebrand to Chevron around Reno some time ago as well, basically these were units who tried 10 year Shell contracts but when they were able to get out of those contracts, they did. Jacksons has also closed a couple of locations that had Shell branding in favor of keeping nearby Chevron stations for themselves instead.

Out in Dayton, NV recently there was a long time Valero that just rebranded to Shell which was very surprising. There is also a Chevron out in Chilcoot, CA that recently rebranded to Shell (that station always changes brands- it has been Exxon, 76, Chevron, Shell, Chevron, and now Shell again over the years)- that station likely lost Chevron due to having such poor cleanliness. Two different suppliers on those two stations so more of a coincidence than anything else.

[jamcool]

Probably not related, but I have noticed a number of Shell stations have been rebranding in my area. Mostly Chevron, but I know of two which have rebranded to Sinclair now. (Sinclair has never had a large presence in Washington)

Sinclair merged with HollyFrontier last year to form HF Sinclair. Holly owned a refinery in Washington along with others in Utah, NM, and Texas. Now that they can supply their Sinclair branded dealers direct you are seeing more Sinclair stations.

[jamcool]

Shell brand has gotten somewhat anemic. They've always been high priced and a lack of a consistent convenience store program seems to be hurting them. Their loyalty card program is not bad but since their pricing is high it sort of is useless.

I used to see Chevron as the strongest gas brand out west, and Shell a close second. I am not really sure this is the case anymore.

We had some rebrand to Chevron around Reno some time ago as well, basically these were units who tried 10 year Shell contracts but when they were able to get out of those contracts, they did. Jacksons has also closed a couple of locations that had Shell branding in favor of keeping nearby Chevron stations for themselves instead.

Out in Dayton, NV recently there was a long time Valero that just rebranded to Shell which was very surprising. There is also a Chevron out in Chilcoot, CA that recently rebranded to Shell (that station always changes brands- it has been Exxon, 76, Chevron, Shell, Chevron, and now Shell again over the years)- that station likely lost Chevron due to having such poor cleanliness. Two different suppliers on those two stations so more of a coincidence than anything else.

Shell has a partnership with Kroger and its loyalty cards…their discount fuel points are also accepted at Shell stations, and also at Circle K in some areas.

[storewanderer]

Shell has a partnership with Kroger and its loyalty cards…their discount fuel points are also accepted at Shell stations, and also at Circle K in some areas.

There is no marketing anymore for the Kroger/Shell alliance. I redeem sometimes at Shell when the price spread is close, also you can buy Shell Gift Cards at Kroger for 4x fuel points most weekends and with current gas pricing a $50 card is about right for a fill up. So extra .20 off that way.

Kroger has had some signs posted in early 2023 that gas gift cards will not earn fuel points, but they are still earning them at least on Shell and Arco (if you can find them any Arco cards...) cards at Smiths. Safeway does not give any fuel points on gas gift cards sold (Arco, Shell, Chevron).

[buckguy]

Shell brand has gotten somewhat anemic. They've always been high priced and a lack of a consistent convenience store program seems to be hurting them. Their loyalty card program is not bad but since their pricing is high it sort of is useless.

I used to see Chevron as the strongest gas brand out west, and Shell a close second. I am not really sure this is the case anymore.

We had some rebrand to Chevron around Reno some time ago as well, basically these were units who tried 10 year Shell contracts but when they were able to get out of those contracts, they did. Jacksons has also closed a couple of locations that had Shell branding in favor of keeping nearby Chevron stations for themselves instead.

Out in Dayton, NV recently there was a long time Valero that just rebranded to Shell which was very surprising. There is also a Chevron out in Chilcoot, CA that recently rebranded to Shell (that station always changes brands- it has been Exxon, 76, Chevron, Shell, Chevron, and now Shell again over the years)- that station likely lost Chevron due to having such poor cleanliness. Two different suppliers on those two stations so more of a coincidence than anything else.

It's difficult to make generalizations about gas retailers because they vary so much--all the buying and selling accounts for some of this, but far from all. I had a Shell card for a long time, so I've paid attention to them for a long time and still do, even though I don't their card anymore.

Shell hasn't done much buying and selling in NE Ohio where they were a strong second to BP and its predecessor, Standard of Ohio, and has decades old stations in many places----but they also have a regional c-store partner/distributor, Truenorth, with a coherent program and gradual construction of new stations. Their stations seem to be well within the norm for pricing, which seems to vary in counter-intuitive ways---cheaper in the city than the suburbs, although highest in higher income suburbs and relatively low near the Turnpike, which has been a phenom for decades. Turnpike stations are no bargain, but there are price wars among exits.

In the DC area, they also have not done much buying and selling---they don't have a c-store program, but it also seems to matter less here than in other places. The pricing, again, is pretty mainstream. Pricing used to be corridor based--cheaper in lower income suburbs than high income ones and less coherent in DC proper. Now, things are more localized, although corridors are still important.

Shell bought c-store/gas station operations from Landmark in Texas during 2021, so they care about these things where it matters. They bought a lot of stations in Atlanta in the 2000s where previously they had been left with an odd scattered collection of stations. There were plenty of old ranch stations that suggested they once were a bigger deal. They've kept these acquisitions and, again, are mainstream on pricing, but not invested in a big c-store base.

I don't know how much a c-store program matters for a the big chains, because they have well-known banners, established card programs--yes, you need at least a small operation with drinks, lottery tickets, and tobacco, but that doesn't have to amount to much and old stations just put it where they once had garages or in a small payment kiosk in a big multi-pump operations The markups are bigger most c-store stuff than for gas, but they probably don't need to invest in a brand to get enough beneficial volume from those items. The big oil companies are ambivalent about retail versus exploration (more profitable but also more volatile) and the balances of these things have varied over time by company--Chevron being a good example.

[Brian Lutz]

How widespread is Kroger's partnership with Shell for fuel points? I know in Washington the fuel points from Fred Meyer and QFC were usable at Fred Meyer and Shell stations, but here in North Carolina even though there are a fair number of Shell stations around the Harris Teeter fuel points are redeemable at BP stations. I think points from Smith's stores in Utah can be redeemed at Shell stations as well but there's a lot less of those in Utah than in Washington.

One odd thing you see here is that several of the smaller regional C-store operators in NC (such as Family Fare and Quality Mart) seem to have different brands of gas at different stations. Most Family Fare stations are BP but every once in a while you'll see one with Shell or Exxon. By the same token most Quality Marts are Shell, but there are also some with BP and others that are just unbranded. I know out west you'd occasionally see a Jackson's station that wasn't Shell, but those seem to be rare.

[BillyGr]

How widespread is Kroger's partnership with Shell for fuel points? I know in Washington the fuel points from Fred Meyer and QFC were usable at Fred Meyer and Shell stations, but here in North Carolina even though there are a fair number of Shell stations around the Harris Teeter fuel points are redeemable at BP stations. I think points from Smith's stores in Utah can be redeemed at Shell stations as well but there's a lot less of those in Utah than in Washington.

No info. on that, but there is (or was) also a partnership with points between Shell and the Stop & Shop chain (maybe also their sister Giants?). Stop & Shop also has some stations at their stores, but not all stores have one.