Why exClark stations are the way they are

There used to be a company from Minnesota by the name of Clark. Here in Cleveland we had quite a few Clark stations and a lot of them were sold off and Clark if you read there corporate history was sold off and sold around and stations had to be sold off.

Anyhow, most of the Clark stations here in Cleveland,Ohio went under and most now are unbranded gas stations.
Anyhow, Clark stations are smaller then average and can be very tricky to get a tanker truck in and out of and here is why:

When Clark oil was expanding in the 1970s and you could make money in gasoline the Clark oil company said what were going to do is buy an acre or less of land I know this because some of the ex Clark stations I deliver beer to I can tell are not even on an acre of land, but any how, Clark bought basically postage stamp sized lots and threw up a gas station, with a small little shack basically big enough for one person to work in and sell nothing more then pop and lottery tickets and cigarettes.

Any how Clark stations have small lots and you say "The lots are so small it's hard to get and in some cases impossible to get a full sized tanker truck through." The reason for that is because when Clark put up there small gas stations they put smaller storage tanks under the ground and Clark also used tanker trucks that only pulled 35-38 foot trailers, not 40 foot or more. Clark wanted a minimal investment in land and had smaller tanks put in and used smaller tanker trucks that could navigate there lots a little easier. Soci petroleum of Wooster, Ohio services a lot of the ex Clark stations and some of them you can back a big tanker truck into or you have to pull straight into and back right up out the way you came in. Any how a tanker truck driver from Soci Petroleum told me that some of the old Clark stations they send a tank wagon into, because there so hard to get in and out of. This morning I saw a tank wagon at a gas station dropping off a load of gas. It seems all the jobbers have a couple tank wagons running around.

Now some gas stations are not as bad. Shell stations some of those are a tad tight, but there not bad as Clarks. Most BP's here in Cleveland though I have noticed have plenty of room to get around every BP I have seen the one near my house and every other one I have seen has a good amount of room.

Sunoco's some of those are a little tight, but if there slow generally you should be able to get in and out okay.

Anyhow just found that interesting, a tanker truck driver told me all about the Clark stations. I figured some of you would like to know that.

 

Here in Cleveland you will see a full size tanker truck 99% of the time, but yesterday I was driving by an unbranded gas station and Soci petroleum had a tank wagon there filling the tanks. There's another unbranded gas station on Clark that another company also sends a tank wagon to. We have some very small ex Clark Stations that are unbranded and don't sell a ton of fuel so they send a tank wagon down there. The companies like Marathon, Speedway, Sunoco, Shell especially and BP they all use the bigger tanker trucks most of the BP stations here in Cleveland are a good size you can get a truck in and out there lots without any trouble. It's the unbranded small stations in the hood that have small tanks in the ground and have an interesting mix of equipment delivering to them.

I never really thought about it though, but some of these crappy unbranded places probably don't have as much storage compacity as other places.

I guess the rule is, if the tanks are fiber glass they are good forever, but if the tanks underground are metal then like 20 years in they have to be exhumed and replaced or inspected and I think that's what kills a lot of these stations off.

Years ago all the independent small time BP stations here in Cleveland the ones that fixed cars and all that stuff all closed down at once. Gas stations are a strange business the stations come and go one minute there all operating and the next half of them are closed down.

 

Matt there's a Shell station for sale in Toledo for only $130,000 we can buy it and sell beer and cigarettes and lotto tickets. It's got 3 fiber glass 10,000 gallon tanks installed in 1989 it's practically brand new

 

[h=3]Toledo, OH[/h] [TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Status [/TD]
[TD]For Sale[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Address[/TD]
[TD]1853 Central/Upton [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Property Type[/TD]
[TD]Gas/Convenience Store[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]County [/TD]
[TD]Lucas[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Price [/TD]
[TD]$130,000 [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Building Square Feet [/TD]
[TD]19.8' x 8.3'[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Lot size [/TD]
[TD]128.15' x 103.01'[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Occupancy [/TD]
[TD]Upon Closing [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Zoning[/TD]
[TD] [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]UST Status [/TD]
[TD](3) 10,000 gallon tanks; [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]installed 1989; [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]construction: fiberglass [/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Deed Restrictions [/TD]
[TD][/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Fuel Franchise Available [/TD]
[TD]No[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Financing Available [/TD]
[TD]Possible[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Plot Site Map[/TD]
[TD]Survey512.pdf
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Purchase Contact[/TD]
[TD]kmcintyre@truenorth.org[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]