Arco- Marathon?

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storewanderer
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Arco- Marathon?

Post by storewanderer »

At an Arco tonight (one of the Marathon supplied ones) I saw some new windshield washing units attached to the poles. The units are blue with an insert inside that says "Marathon- Fueling the American Spirit."

All of the other marketing materials posted were Arco stuff. Maybe just a coincidence?

Is any Marathon marketing stuff showing up at the SoCal Arcos?

Meanwhile it looks like Marathon is running the Arco brand in Florida now. So obviously they don't appear to be moving toward rebranding.
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by jamcool »

There are several Marathon dealers in Arizona, including one in Apache Junction
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by storewanderer »

Well, while looking around at Marathon's website last night I noticed a station pop up in my area. It is a station halfway between Reno and Carson City on an old highway which got bypassed by a new Interstate about 7-8 years ago. It is on old Highway 395 in New Washoe City, NV.

This station is a former 76, then Texaco, then closed, then very briefly reopened as an unbranded station with the old Texaco colors.

So I drove down there today and took a look at this place. The store is dark and abandoned but was painted blue (was red before). I don't think the store has reopened in years.

They have a Marathon canopy now, completely legitimate looking. Price sign is the old unbranded station's price sign. Pumps are partially painted white but mostly still red, with a Marathon valance and sticker on each, and do not look very legitimate. No Marathon marketing materials, signs, credit card information, etc. The pumps were on and would process a credit card. But there was another problem: there were ties on the pumps locking them into the nozzle with tag notices from the State of Nevada that the pumps cannot be used due to violation of NRS (Nevada Revised Statute) with a notice date of 10/27/2020.

Not a great start for "Marathon" in Nevada.
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by JimKarras »

Marathon is now running commercials on SoCal cable operator channels for the Marathon brand.

Perhaps they will start doing brand flips in some areas in this market from Arco to Marathon.

I’m still not clear what will happen to the AM/PM brand here.
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by storewanderer »

JimKarras wrote: November 16th, 2020, 9:25 pm Marathon is now running commercials on SoCal cable operator channels for the Marathon brand.

Perhaps they will start doing brand flips in some areas in this market from Arco to Marathon.

I’m still not clear what will happen to the AM/PM brand here.
BP will keep supporting and taking franchise fees from whoever wants to run AM/PM franchises. They have some people opening new build units in NorCal lately which are very nice and accept credit cards. One in Gridley that opened earlier this year already flipped to being corporate operated a few months after opening, not sure what happened there... but top shelf site there, really nice store and fueling area. Not sure if any are opening in SoCal? They have converted a small number of AM/PMs in SoCal to Speedway, not clear how many are still down there that were slated to convert to Speedway but now aren't being converted since 7-Eleven is taking Speedway over.

Maybe Marathon will
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by jamcool »

In Phoenix a number of Arco locations are taking all credit cards- with no difference in price (still a 35c charge on using debit). There is company-created ad flags and signage at the pumps announcing this change and updated electronic price signage. Apparently the Marathon influence is taking over.
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by storewanderer »

jamcool wrote: April 24th, 2021, 10:49 pm In Phoenix a number of Arco locations are taking all credit cards- with no difference in price (still a 35c charge on using debit). There is company-created ad flags and signage at the pumps announcing this change and updated electronic price signage. Apparently the Marathon influence is taking over.
I ran across an Arco/AM PM in Scottsdale years ago that was taking credit at the pump and in-store with no fees. It was a rare thing to see an Arco that accepted credit back then (another was the weird Valero-owned Arcos scattered around central CA which did too, and also an Arco at the Sacramento airport- at the time accepted credit only for gas pump only, and not inside). This was when they were still under BP.

So far any Arco I see accepting credit lately, more pop up in NorCal, have the cash price credit price thing. I notice in OR/WA the cash price/credit price at Arco can be as little as .04 more per gallon or as much as .20 more per gallon.
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by Alpha8472 »

I saw a newly rebranded Marathon gas station in Danville, California. The Marathon locator shows various other gas stations under the Mobil brand.

I went to an ARCO in Northern California yesterday and they accept credit cards with no fee. The gas pumps even accept NFC.
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by Alpha8472 »

Duplicate post.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on April 25th, 2021, 5:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Arco- Marathon?

Post by Alpha8472 »

The Marathon branded gas station was about the same price as ARCO. They are both low priced brands.
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