Vons asks to sell gas in town

Robert Chacon

Vons might soon open its first gas station in the Glendale area.

The Safeway-owned supermarket chain has asked La Canada

Flintridge officials what it would take to build a self-service

discount gas station at 1975 Verdugo Blvd., the site of an old Texaco

gas station that sits in front of the store. The closest Vons store

with a gas station is in Inglewood.

The inquiries from Vons officials came about two weeks ago, La

Canada Senior Planner Fred Buss said.

“They wanted to know what it would take to go in there and open a

gas station,” he said, adding that the company would have to file a

conditional-use permit before the city grants the request.

The company has not taken any further steps.

Owners of the former Texaco station have begun clean up of the

site, vacuuming gasoline and other petroleum products from the soil,

Buss said. That might be to prepare the property so it can be used

again for gas sales.

A Vons official would not confirm whether the company will operate

a gas station there, but did say the company is looking at many

places in Southern California to determine where gasoline sales are

feasible.

The company began rolling out gas stations at its stores at the

end of January, and has opened 17 stations so far from Escondido to

Clovis and as far east as Las Vegas, spokesman Daymond Rice said. The

company has gas stations in Gardena and Lakewood, too.

“We are always looking at many locations to expand the service,”

Rice said. Shoppers who choose to fill up their tanks at a Vons-owned

gas station can save on the price-per-gallon.

For example, shoppers with Vons cards can save up to three cents a

gallon, and shoppers who spend more than $50 on groceries can save up

to six cents a gallon.

“Offering fuel is a great way to create a one-stop shopping

experience for our customers,” Rice said.

Rice would not say whether the strategy allows the company to

compete against Wal-Mart super stores. The company is planning a

major expansion in California of its Superstores, which offers

grocery and retail sales in stores as large as 100,000 square feet.

Rice would also not say whether adding gasoline stations would

give Vons the opportunity to win back customers that stopped shopping

at the store as a result of a five-month grocery strike.

“It is a long-standing policy that we do not discuss marketing

strategy,” Rice said.