Grand Opening Giveaway & Specials at Wawa

What better way to get customers in the door than a giveaway? Wawa opened its Kendall Park store on Friday, Dec. 8, and is offering free coffee this week. It's also offering $1.99 12-oz. milk shakes and $2.99 6-inch hoagies to mark its grand opening week. While afternoons have been busy, mornings have been slower than expected, said one of the store's employees. 

Coupon Marketing

Wawa has sent coupons to nearby residents, so business may pick up in the mornings as people realize the store is open and adjust their morning commutes.

Grand opening features free coffee

Gas price matches the lowest price in the area

The gasoline pumps are open, as well, and the per-gallon price for regular-grade gas matches the cheapest in the area at $2.25. Diesel sells for $2.71/gallon.

The grand opening for the Somerset Wawa five miles north on Route 27 is set for this Friday, Dec. 15, with doors opening at 8 am and a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 am.

New Businesses Behind IHOP

One business is expanding and two more are moving into the strip mall behind IHOP in Franklin Park. The Spice Rack is adding a banquet facility next door to its restaurant. 

Meanwhile, signs have gone up for Pasha Mediterranean Restaurant & Banquet and Cloud 9 by Pasha. So far, there are no websites for either Pasha or Cloud 9. From the sign for Cloud 9, it looks like it will be a hookah lounge. And from the name, Pasha is likely a restaurant specializing in Turkish cuisine.

Since there are no websites for either Pasha or Cloud 9, there's no telling when the businesses will open.

"This Stretch of 27" covers business on Route 27 between Finnegan's Lane and Route 518. What's your story? Email me at lkiesche@gmail.com

Liz Kiesche
Liz, a business journalist, formerly worked for Bloomberg News in Princeton and New York.

Will Another Gas Station Increase Price Competition?

Today I'm looking at whether the new Wawa, still under construction, will affect the price of gasoline in the local market. My guess: not by much. 

Fuel pumps have yet to be installed at the Kendall Park Wawa site.

I've looked at several existing Wawa stores that already sell fuel to see if there's a trend. And it's hard to find one. In the Old Bridge area, Wawa is among the cheaper gas stations, but in Jamesburg and Bridgewater it's at the high end of the gasoline price spectrum.

The two Wawa locations in Old Bridge sell regular gas for $2.37/gallon, according to GasBuddy website at 3:08 p.m. That compares with $2.36/gallon, the average price of the 10 cheapest gas stations in Old Bridge. The lowest price on the list is $2.33/gallon, the price at Lukoil, 19 Petroleum and Sunoco. It's important to note, though, that Wawa stations charge the same price whether the customer is paying with cash or by credit card. Many of the cheapest gas stations charge extra, usually about 10 cents a gallon, if you pay using a credit card.

Jamesburg, Bridgewater Markets

In both Jamesburg and Bridgewater, Wawa's price was $2.45/gallon. That's still not bad, considering the average price for the state of New Jersey is $2.48/gallon, according to GasBuddy.

In the Jamesburg/Helmetta area, Wawa was the most expensive of six gas stations, at $2.45/gallon, according to GasBuddy. The average price for that group is $2.41/gallon. Wawa also sells gas at $2.45/gallon at its Bridgewater location, making it the highest price among six gas stations in the Bridgewater/Bound Brook area. The average in that group is $2.43.

Back to Route 27

On Route 27 in the Kendall Park/Franklin Park area (and slightly north into North Brunswick and Somerset), the average price for regular grade gasoline is $2.36/gallon, with the most expensive being $2.39 a gallon, the price at Exxon, the BP at Finnegans Lane, and the Valero on Route 27 south. The cheapest is $2.29/gallon at Raceway and the Valero on Route 27 north in North Brunswick.

Sunoco's gas price is just above the average of $2.36/gallon on Rt. 27.

The opening of the store represents a trend seen across the country. About 80% of gasoline is sold in the U.S. is through convenience store chains, according to the website for NACS, the association for convenience and fuel retailing. Major petroleum companies, meanwhile, have been getting out of retailing to focus on pumping crude oil and natural gas out of the ground. While many gas stations still have brand-name petroleum company signs, chances are they are independently owned.

Wawa, so far, hasn't responded to my requests for comments on the opening of the store.

"This Stretch of 27" covers business on Route 27 between Finnegan's Lane and Route 518. What's your story? Email me at lkiesche@gmail.com

Liz Kiesche
Liz, a business journalist, formerly worked for Bloomberg News in Princeton and New York.

Diwali Is Coming; Gas Prices Fall

Diwali is coming and Bikanervali is stringing up lights for the Hindu festival of lights and displaying gift baskets for the prime Indian gift-giving holiday. Sweets are typically given as gifts for the Hindu New Year, to be celebrated Thursday, Oct. 19.

"It's the celebration of good versus ill," says Bikanervala manager Bijen Patel. "Everybody celebrates it in India." See Sept. 13's post for more on Bikanervala.

This week, people will be placing bulk orders for sweets so they can pick them up next week, he says.

People prepare for the holiday by cleaning and painting houses. And, in India, celebrations often include setting off firecrackers. "It's a multibillion-dollar festival," Patel says.

Gas Price Update

Gasoline prices are now lower than they were before Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, a major oil refinery region, in late August.  As a result of the storm, and refinery outages, gasoline prices rose by 40 cents a gallon at the cheapest gas stations. During this entire time, the price of gas at the Exxon station stayed the same -- $2.799/gallon. 

Now, the price at Valero and Raceway stations is $2.299/gallon. BP and Sunoco are in between.

"This Stretch of 27" covers business on Route 27 between Finnegan's Lane and Route 518. What's your story? Email me at lkiesche@gmail.com

Liz Kiesche
Liz, a business journalist, formerly worked for Bloomberg News in Princeton and New York.

Route 27 Profile: Bikanervala Marks U.S. Debut

Indian sweets maker, Bikanervala, has made its entry into the U.S. market by opening a store and restaurant in Kendall Park on Aug. 20. Since opening, business has been good, says store manager Bijen Patel. It makes sense to locate the first U.S. store here. According to the 2010 U.S. census, some 15.3% of Kendall Park's population is Asian Indian, and across the street in Franklin Park,  that number is 25.7%.

An international chain,Bikanervala started out in the 1950s making sweets, but has since branched out to snacks and restaurants. The company also opened a boutique hotel in Hyderabad, India.

The restaurant is 100% vegetarian and features mostly North Indian food, with South Indian and Chinese offerings as well. While most of the chain's locations are in India, the company also has stores in New Zealand, Dubai, Nepal and Singapore. Bikanervala plans to open more stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Store manager Bijen Patel

Bikanervala USA does have a website, but "we're still building it," Patel says. It doesn't yet have online ordering, because he wanted first to focus on opening the store and get that running well.

Much of its traffic are immigrants who grew up with the brand in India. "We also get a lot of Americans,"  says Patel, who moved to the U.S. in 1989, first living in north Jersey before moving to Spotswood.

The core of Bikanervala: sweets

To celebrate its opening, the store is running a special on mixed sweets at $12.99 a pound. Other than that, the store hasn't done a lot of promotion or advertising. The best advertising, along this busy road, is when there are a lot of cars in the parking lot.

"When people see the parking lot is full, they know it's something good," Patel says.

Gas Price Update: 

Gasoline prices have reverted to their old order. Exxon is now the most expensive with Raceway and Valero being the least expensive. Prices have not gone back to where they were before Hurricane Harvey, but they have eased a little. Raceway and the Valero on Route 27 North are both at $2.639/gallon, while both BP stations and Sunoco selling regular-grade gas at $2.699.  The price at Exxon is $2.799/gallon.

Valero on Route 27 South

Let me know what's going on in your business on Route 27 between Finnegan's Lane and Route 518. Email me at lkiesche@gmail.com

Liz Kiesche
Liz, a business journalist, formerly worked for Bloomberg News in Princeton and New York.

Gasoline Prices: The World Turned Upside Down

Wait! What's going on? The Raceway and Valero north of Finnegans Lane always have the cheapest price around here, right? And Exxon is always the most expensive. Well, the Exxon part is still true. But now Raceway and Valero, which are practically across the street from one another, are the same price as Exxon. But wait--if you pay using a credit card, then Exxon is cheaper than Raceway and Valero.

Since Hurricane Harvey shut down some refineries in the Houston area, gasoline prices have, of course, risen in New Jersey, as they have around the country. At the Raceway, just north of Bennington Parkway/Finnegan's Lane, the price jumped 40c/gallon to $2.799 (cash price) from $2.399. 

As of noon today (Wednesday, Sept. 6),  the lowest gasoline price $2.749 (when you pay cash) at Valero on 27 South.

At the BP on the corner of Finnegans Lane, the price is now $2.759/gallon. Again, it's unusual that BP's price is lower than the Raceway's. The BP at the corner of Allston Road and Sunoco, both close to Route 518, are selling gas at the same price as the Finnegans Lane BP.

Sunoco just north of Route 518

                                                                          

    How to account for the discrepancies? For one thing, there may be two different products they're selling. When I stopped at the Finnegans Lane BP earlier this week, I noticed a label on the gas pump, "May Contain Ethanol."  Ethanol is cheaper than gasoline. According to Business Insider, today's price for ethanol is $1.57/gallon. The average price for a gallon of regular-grade gasoline today is $2.80, according to the website GasBuddy. That's a big difference. So some of the refiners may be adding ethanol to the mix.  If you notice your miles-per-gallon decreasing, that's probably the case.

Then there are the dynamics of fuel retailing. Here's how it works. Branded fuel (such as BP, Exxon, Shell) costs more because there are more costs inherent to the product, such as advertising, research and additives. Unbranded fuel retailers rarely advertise and don't include additives in their fuels, so they sell at a discount to branded fuel.

A hurricane can mess with the supply/demand unevenly. A lot of gasoline is refined in the Houston area, and many of them had to shut down for awhile because of the storm. Some may take longer to get up and running due to storm damage. About 20%-25% of U.S. refining capacity was disrupted by Harvey, CNBC says. This may have hurt the supply of unbranded fuel more than it did branded fuel. Therefore, when supply falls and demand remains the same, the price goes up. 

Of course, once the refineries are all up and running, the gas prices may all revert back to their normal order of things. Hurricane season isn't over yet, though.

Lucky for the Texas and Louisiana, Hurricane Irma doesn't seem to be heading their way, but does appear headed for Florida. That may actually reduce demand for gasoline temporarily. Tropical storm Katia, which formed in the Gulf of Mexico, is expected to make landfall in Mexico. Stay tuned. Gas prices could be in for bumpy ride this year.

Let me know what's going on in your business on Route 27 between Finnegan's Lane and Route 518. Email me at lkiesche@gmail.com

Liz Kiesche