Ever been jealous of those Soldotna residents up the road who get gasoline discounts with a store discount card? Well, Homerites can now be on equal footing with the conversion of the Essential One gas station on Homer Bypass Road to a Chevron.
The remodeled gas station held a grand opening last Saturday, June 23.
“It’s been in the works for many, many months,” said Kenneth Bobbie, chief marketing officer for Petro 49 Inc. “We started on it last fall.”
Part of the renovation of the gas station included an expanded store, as well as an additional pump island with four gas pumps.
Bobbie said the goal is to be an easy gas station for travelers and recreational vehicles to use.
RV travelers will be able to get not only gas, but also propane, water and air in the same place.
“We did a complete rebuild on the … store,” he said. “We freshened up all of the existing infrastructure, and we added all that new pump island infrastructure out there.”
Bobbie said that turning the Essential One station into a Chevron made sense on several levels.
Not only is it a national chain, it is physically close to Homer’s Safeway store and will allow customers to earn gas discounts based on their Safeway shopping.
“The primary reason we did rebrand with Chevron was because that Chevron Safeway loyalty program is so effective,”
Bobbie said. “It’s so well received by the consumer.
“They go to the pump, authorize the pump, and it’ll ask you if you’re a Safeway shopper,” he said. “If so, insert your club card and that will tell the pump that you’re entitled to a certain amount of discount based on the purchases that you have at Safeway.”
The gas discounts range from 10 cents to a dollar, said Aaron Essman, a retail business consultant with Chevron.
“Chevron knew that we had a lot of customers in Homer, and we really wanted to get a location here,” Essman said. “And Safeway/Carrs is one of our biggest partners.”
Reach Megan Pacer at mpacer@homernews.com.
Workers with Prism Design and Construction, Wasilla, on Thursday, May 31, install Chevron signs at the Essential One gas station on the Sterling Highway and Poopdeck Street. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
A worker with Prism Design and Construction, Wasilla, on Thursday, May 31, installs Chevron signs at the Essential One gas station on the Sterling Highway and Poopdeck Street. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)
Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News A worker with Prism Design and Construction, Wasilla, on Thursday, May 31, installs Chevron signs at the former Essential One gas station on the Sterling Highway and Poopdeck Street.
