Texaco Rebranding To Chevron

[Alpha8472]

I passed by a Former Texaco in San Ramon, California today that was suddenly rebranded to Chevron. The Texaco sign and Extra Mile Sign had just been refurbished a couple of months ago. This is at the corner of Crow Canyon Road and San Ramon Valley Boulevard.

There is another Chevron with an Extra Mile Convenience store on the opposite corner of the street. On the other corner is a Valero, and next to the original Chevron is a Shell Gas Station. Across the freeway overpass is another Shell Gas Station.

I was thinking that since Chevron is headquartered in San Ramon perhaps Chevron wanted to eliminate the Texaco brand in this city.

This is really overkill for gas stations in such a small area. Two Chevrons is too much. The sad thing is that the Texaco is older and smaller. The original Chevron is newer and nicer looking.

Have you seen two of the same gas station right next to each other?

[jamcool]

In Phoenix we have Circle Ks across the street from each other at several intersections. One of them is usually an acquired store.
In the days of Standard Oil of California it wasn’t uncommon to have a company owned Standard station in close proximity to a dealer-owned Chevron station.

[BillyGr]

Across the street from each other is reasonably common in many parts of NJ, simply due to so many of the larger roadways making it very difficult to cross from one side to the other, without going a couple blocks out of the way.

[Super S]

I have been wondering about the future of the Texaco brand. Many in my area have been rebranded to Chevron, however, there are three local Texaco branded stations I can think of. I have also noticed that the Havoline line of oil (which I am only seeing at Bi-Mart these days) has replaced the Texaco logo with the Chevron logo. I wonder if we will see them keep a small number of stations with the Texaco brand to protect the trademark, like what they already do with Standard.

[Brian Lutz]

I think I've mentioned this one before, but in Sandy UT on 9000 S next to I-15 there are two Maveriks right across the street from each other. If the Maverik/Kum 'n Go merger goes through, there will also be a spot on Bangerter Highway where there's a Maverik directly across from a Kum 'n Go.

Closer to here, Exit 150 on I-40/I-85 between Burlington and Mebane has both a Pilot and a Flying J across the street from each other, plus another Pilot one exit to the east (Exit 152).

[storewanderer]

Chevron did a really weird thing a number of years ago in Hawaii where they sold their refinery, sold their corporate operated network of Chevron stations, then signed a branding agreement with the buyer of the corporate operated Chevron stations to rebrand all of them under the Texaco brand. So the Chevron brand was essentially exited from Hawaii but the Texaco brand was instead used there for some reason.

Now up here in Nevada, we have had these Chevron-affiliated Texaco stations since months after Chevron got the rights to the Texaco name. Initially they were conversions from other brands (mostly unbranded or former 76 sites) and tended to be sites that would not qualify for proper Chevron branding. The ones affiliated with Terrible Herbst which popped up in the 2007 range operated for a few years but never received permanent signage or proper signage and were very odd; a few brand new stations were built that did not even have signs, just banners, for years, until either closing or being sold to other operators who completed the proper branding/signs. Terrible Herbst had a very odd business strategy in Reno where they put this Chevron or Texaco brand on fuel stations that had been unbranded discount stations in not great parts of town and then priced the fuel at the top price in the market. They tried to get people to play slot machines in the stations and had a 69 cent 32oz drink everyday price to draw in traffic but the stores did very poorly.

More on Terrible Herbst's 2007 Reno adventure here: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/14/busi ... ssets.html

So Terrible Herbst ran in Reno area from about 2007-2012 maybe. Google street images of that era show how terrible the temporary branding on these sites looked. For instance
13900 Stead Blvd Reno, NV-August 2011 Google Street View.
901 W 4th Reno, NV-July 2011 Google Street View
Also an example of the type of thing Terrible Herbst put Chevron branding on:
1602 4th Street Sparks, NV- July 2007 Google Street View

Off the top of my head I can think of the following Chevron-affiliated Texaco stations in my area but very few remain:
New Washoe City, NV- this was a 76, then rebranded to Texaco, then closed as a new interstate was built that routed traffic away from it; a Marathon took the site over for a matter of weeks during COVID and went out of business
Sparks, NV- Baring Blvd- this was a PDQ, then Exxon, then Chevron, then unbranded. Terrible Herbst bought it and branded it Texaco. Jacksons assumed kept the Texaco branding including re-imaging it but then rebranded it Chevron quite a few years ago.
Carson City, NV- 5th/Rand- this was a PDQ, then Exxon, then Chevron, then unbranded. Terrible Herbst bought and branded it Texaco. Jacksons assumed kept the Texaco branding including re-imaging but then rebranded it Chevron quite a few years ago.
Yerington, NV- 202 N. Main Street- this was ?? then Terrible Herbst bought it and branded it Texaco. Jacksons found a dealer to run the site and did a proper reimage to Texaco but it did not stay in business long and is now vacant.
Yerington, NV- 1 US 95 ALT- this was an Exxon, then unbranded, then 76, then unbranded, then Terrible Herbst bought it and branded it Texaco. This station was then bought by Jacksons who kept the Texaco on it until just last summer when they shifted it to the Chevron branding.
Reno, NV- 13900 Stead Blvd- built as Exxon, then unbranded, then Terrible Herbst bought it and branded it Texaco. This station was kept longer by Terrible Herbst than most others around town but then they eventually walked from it and the landlord assumed operations; it was unbranded for a while but is now branded Sinclair.
Sparks, NV- Greg/McCarran- built as a Texaco by Terrible Herbst. This was also kept longer than most others around town by them but eventually they walked from it and landlord assumed it, it kept Texaco branding until switching to Sinclair.
Sparks, NV- Sparks Blvd./Los Altos Pkwy- built as a Texaco by Terrible Herbst, they walked away from it and it was unbranded for a while then took 76 branding.
Sparks, NV- Pyramid/La Posada- older station, rebuilt as a Texaco by Terrible Herbst, kept longer than the others around town but eventually closed (busy location... could not believe they walked from it), eventually assumed by Jacksons and rebranded to Chevron prior to reopening.
Sparks, NV- N. McCarran/Lincoln- not sure what this was built as; in the 80's it had Arco branding, then briefly Shell branding, then Exxon branding, then unbranded for years. Terrible Herbst took it over and branded it Texaco. Terrible Herbst promptly built a large c-store building (previously it had a booth in the middle of the pumps) and expanded the number of pumps. This did no business. Terrible Herbst kept this site longer than most others around town then eventually walked away from it/closed it. A new operator reopened it as Texaco, then rebranded it to Chevron, and it is now branded as 76.
Sparks, NV- 2169 Prater- old?, was Exxon long ago, then unbranded for many years. Terrible Herbst took over and put Texco branding on it, this station did not even have pay at the pump, but near when it closed Terrible Herbst went and found some used pumps to put in and offer pay at the pump, then not long after Terrible just closed it. It was vacant for many years and reopened unbranded, then closed again not long after and sat vacant for many more years, then reopened unbranded, then branded Marathon for about 2 months, then unbranded again.
Sparks, NV- 2191 Pyramid- old?, was Exxon long ago, then unbranded for many years. Terrible Herbst took over and put Texaco branding on it, then sold the station before it got rid of most others around town, it is still open unbranded.
Reno, NV- McCarran/West 4th- built as a Texaco by Terrible Herbst (black canopy installed), never opened, sat half built for a while, Jacksons eventually took it over and opened it with Chevron branding.
Reno, NV- West 4th/Keystone- built as Regal, then Exxon, then unbranded, then 76, then Terrible Herbst took over and rebranded it to Texaco. Station eventually closed, sat vacant for years, property is owned by City of Reno, Maverik eventually demolished it and built on the site and an adjacent lot.
Reno, NV- Plumb/Harvard- old USA station; went from USA to Arco to Exxon back to USA; eventually sold and unbranded then sold to Terrible Herbst who put Texaco branding on it. Station was demolished due to redevelopment of shopping center into car dealership.
Fallon, NV- West Fallon- built as Arco, then unbranded, then became Tesoro, then closed. Reopened as unbranded station. Terrible Herbst took station over and rebranded it to Texaco, sold station to Jacksons as operating station and Jacksons put Chevron branding on it pretty quickly.
Winnemucca, NV- 685 W. Winnemucca Blvd- former Exxon, then 76, then unbranded. Sold to Terrible Herbst who promptly branded it Texaco, then when they walked from the market it kept Texaco for a bit then eventually became unbranded.
Winnemucca, NV- 399 Minor St- ?? was unbranded then sold to Terrible Herbst who promptly branded it Texaco, then when they walked in this market it was unbranded.
Fallon, NV- East Fallon-built as Fox Peak Tribe Fuel; rebranded to Sinclair; then rebranded to Texaco. Still Texaco.
Chilcoot, CA- was unbranded station for years- one pump- got Texaco branding 3-4 years ago.

[Alpha8472]

The larger Chevron has gas at $4.99 while the Chevron that used to be a Texaco across the street has gas at $4.95 for cash customers and $4.99 for credit. Why does one give a discount for cash customers?

It makes people drive across the street to pay cash. Both stations have an Extra Mile convenience store, but the former Texaco has a tiny Extra Mile while the one across the street is a huge deluxe version with much more space.

[storewanderer]

The larger Chevron has gas at $4.99 while the Chevron that used to be a Texaco across the street has has gas at $4.95 for cash customers and $4.99 for credit. Why does one give a discount for cash customers?

It makes people drive across the street to pay cash. Both stations have an Extra Mile convenience store, but the former Texaco has a tiny Extra Mile while the one across the street is a huge deluxe version with much more space.

This is up to the station operator. I am guessing the Texaco one is a dealer site and the one with the longer term Chevron branding is corporate owned.

[ClownLoach]

Only one I know of is West Anaheim, CA on La Palma. Just checked online and apparently it was recently changed to Chevron.

[storewanderer]

Only one I know of is West Anaheim, CA on La Palma. Just checked online and apparently it was recently changed to Chevron.

I think there are cases where a Chevron dealer site is nearby and that site to not compete with another Chevron, any other nearby site ends up with Texaco branding.

In the case of San Ramon above the Chevron in question is a corporate site. Maybe corporate doesn't care if there are two Chevrons so close together as long as the dealer is okay with it.

Out in Yerington, NV there was a decades old Chevron dealer and it had a Chevron contract that terminated. Jacksons had a store out there with Texaco branding instead of Chevron due to whatever rights the dealer out there had. Nine months or so before the dealer Chevron converted to Sinclair, Jacksons hung Chevron coming soon signs on its Texaco. And like clockwork when the dealer Chevron changed to Sinclair, the Jacksons Texaco turned into a Chevron.

I always liked the Texaco brand. It was neat to see it come back under Chevron, but seems like the brand is almost an afterthought.