Charles Winokoor| Special to the Taunton Daily Gazette
TAUNTON — New gas stations with convenience stores are sprouting up like so many dandelions in the Silver City.
The Taunton Daily Gazette recently reported that a Mobil station is now under construction on Bay Street and that a groundbreaking is close at hand for a new Gulf station on the same street near Interstate 495.
Add to that two other gas station and convenience store projects now being built on County Street and the list of such new business ventures in the city totals four.
Two of those four projects date back to 2019 in terms of special permits being issued by the Taunton Planning Board.
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A Texas-based fuel and convenience, or “c-store,” company doing business in Massachusetts as Texas Family Holdings LLC — but known in its home base of Euless, Texas as The Local Shoppe — is building a Gulf station at 93 County St.
The location is arguably unique in two respects.
For one thing, a building directly behind the future convenience store was built in anticipation of its eventual use as a retail marijuana shop.
And secondly, a 40-acre piece of property directly across the street is now officially designated as the site of Taunton’s long-awaited, public safety complex for the city’s police and fire departments.
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Salman Arab, whose father and uncle own The Local Shoppe near Fort Worth, and his fellow operations manager, Niraj Shrestha, said The Local Shoppe in Taunton will be the company’s fourth in Massachusetts but the only one to date that will sell Gulf brand fuel. The other three — in Beverly, Methuen and Shrewsbury — all sell Sunoco gas.
The Local Shoppe company, Shrestha and Arab said, also operates four stores and gas stations in California, two in Florida and 12 in Texas.
The Taunton Gulf project, they said, is projected to cost $3 million, including land acquisition and construction, and will open for business in June. The general contractor is Verde Group Inc.
Arab and Shrestha said a representative of a regional fuel supplier in Massachusetts initially suggested they consider doing business in Taunton. The two said they also considered Milton and Raynham but settled on 93 County St. after meeting former property co-owner and Taunton DPW Deputy Commissioner Tony Abreau by happenstance.
“He was on a bulldozer with a cigar in his mouth and was so friendly,” Shrestha said.
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Why they chose County Street location
Other contributing factors that helped persuade them that the County Street site was a good business bet were data describing traffic counts and a local demographic profile.
The surrounding area consists mainly of apartment houses and single family homes. Taunton High School is also less than a mile away.
The next closest active gas station is a mile south on County Street at the Harts Four Corners Cumberland Farms.
'House account' for police and fire
Shrestha and Arab said they intend to create a “house account” for the fire and police departments once the city’s public safety facility opens.
The two departments would be billed monthly for gasoline purchases with all profits from those fuel sales going to a charity of their choice.
Arab and Shrestha said their company has an identical arrangement with a volunteer fire department in a Texas town not far from Fort Worth.
On waiting list for beer and wine license
The Local Shoppe owns and operates a unique convenience store in Euless, Texas which, in addition to a restaurant, includes a beer bar with 60 craft selections on tap. Customers who enter the premises can either order two samples or one pint of beer.
In Taunton, however, Arab and Shrestha are on a waiting list for a traditional beer and wine license.
Arab says his company places a high priority on excellent customer service, to the extent that employee trainers often travel from Texas to new stores in other states.
Gasoline sales have traditionally provided slim profit margins, especially when credit card fees are factored into the equation. Shrestha says cash transactions account for only 10% of his company’s gas sales.
He and Arab noted that gasoline profits are significantly lower in Texas as compared to Massachusetts. Profits in Texas, they said, can be as low as two to three cents per gallon as compared to 12 to 15 cents in the Bay State.
That’s why sales of food, beverages and lottery and scratch tickets are so vital to the financial bottom line.
Self-checkout coffee bar, EV charging stations in works
The convenience store at 93 County St. will also feature a self-checkout coffee bar with touch screen capability for credit card purchases.
Shrestha also said they have an agreement with Tesla for electric vehicle battery charger stations but that extra power equipment still needs to be installed.
As for the prospect of having an adjacent, recreational marijuana store, Arab joked that it could prove to be a mutually beneficial shopping scenario for pot shop customers.
“They can get a Ding Dong (chocolate snack cake) and a doobie,” he said with a laugh.
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How many jobs will be created?
Shrestha and Arab said they anticipate initially hiring four full-time and two part-time employees to work inside the convenience store.
New Mobil taking shape near South Coast Rail station
Another conspicuous change on County Street, also known as Route 140, has occurred further south where an older Mobil station at 1095 County St. near the junction of Route 24 has been demolished.
The site is also situated close to the city’s future South Coast Rail commuter train station.
A new Mobil station with a 4,000-square-foot convenience store is being built by Westborough-based Kayrouz Petroleum. The dimensions of the old Mobil station store measured just 1,000 square feet.
Dunkin' or Coffee Connection inside new gas station
Director of operations Suneet Sharma says either Dunkin’ or Coffee Connection will lease space inside the new building. New underground fuel storage equipment is also being installed bringing the total cost to around $3 million, he said.
The closest competitor, a Speedway gas station, is situated less than half a mile away on County Street.
That heavily traveled stretch of Route 140 runs past two shopping plazas, whose tenants include The Home Depot, Target, Kohl’s, Ocean State Job Lot and T.J. Maxx.
Sharma said the Kayrouz company now has 41 stores and stations in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. He said a decision has yet to be made as to whether the Taunton convenience store will carry the company’s Racing Mart brand logo.
Mobil station also being built up the road in Berkley
One exit south of Taunton on Route 24, Exit 16 to be exact, a large convenience store and a Mobil gas station is also now being built by Kayrouz Petroleum on Padelford Street in Berkley.
Sharma said the two projects are consistent with his company’s strategy for growth.
“We try to find competitive locations, usually right off the highway that serve the community and commuters,” Sharma said.
The Harvard-based construction company South Coast Development LLC is the general contractor for both 1095 County St. and the Padelford Street project in Berkley.
