ForumsFranchise Opportunities

Owning a gas station can be a good business, but it is a very tough one to start up or take over if you have no experience at it -- lots of potential risks (regulatory and environmental issues, customer safety, employee security, financial management, etc.). and quite a bit of "politics" to play relative to supply, delivery, and pricing.

Despite the high consumer price of gasoline, it doesn't have a particularly high margin for the station owner -- around 20 cents a gallon (on average) right now. Convenience store sales will average about a 30 percent gross margin. So both parts of the business you described depend on traffic volume, and location is the key to that.

A prime location will cost a lot more up front, but with major retail and grocery chains adding gas pumps to their operations (and consumers trying to conserve when possible), competition is stiff and individually owned franchise stations that are in anything other than a prime locations probably won't survive.

There's a book that you may want to check out if you're serious about this endeavor:
http://www.mygasstationguide.net/
(I do not have any affiliation with the author or publisher.)

Hope this helps. Best wishes.

Thank you and i am getting the picture now. There is another option that my wife wants us to put up and that is a Day Care Center with a unique marketing strategy. Anyone who got a good idea on this? Thank you again./