OnCue and Love's have figured out what CNG can do for their convenience store sales. OnCue has
CNG dispensers at 13 stores; Love's has
12 locations and
adding more.
Fortunately for Kum & Go, neither of these operators has stores in the Tulsa metro area.
But... Kum & Go's huge problem in Tulsa is QuikTrip. My unscientific study determined that Kum & Go stores experience 25% or less of the store traffic that QuikTrip locations enjoy.
Kum & Go has a great opportunity to change this at a few of their Tulsa area stores by being the first to offer CNG refueling. Unlike OKC, Tulsa does not yet have any CNG refueling at convenience stores. CNG users in Tulsa can only refuel at standalone, unattended locations. Except for the Apache CNG station at I-44 & Yale, all Tulsa CNG stations are not easily accessible from interstate highways.
Notice how the Kum & Go locations in South Tulsa match the lack of CNG refueling stations. (Green icons are existing CNG stations; Red icons are existing Kum & Go locations.)
View Tulsa CNG in a larger map
The best location for Kum & Go to experience an immediate boost in store sales is the location at Riverside Dr. and the Creek Turnpike. This location has plenty of space for the CNG equipment installation, easy on/off access to the Creek Turnpike with a dedicated traffic signal for eastbound traffic. That section of Creek Turnpike is now the
most highly traveled of all the Oklahoma Turnpikes (26,000 vehicles per day each way). This Kum & Go location is easily viewed by travelers on Creek Turnpike and the tall price sign would catch a lot of attention with a $1.39 CNG price displayed.
This is just the first and most promising Kum & Go location for CNG dispensing. More blog posts to follow with location analysis. [UPDATE: The red stickpins in the Google Map above show the other promising Kum & Go locations - Hwy 75 & 81st St, 111th St & Memorial in Bixby, Lynn Lane & 71st St in Broken Arrow.]