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Business & Tech

Gas Prices Got You Down?

Fill Up With Cheer These Days Knowing It Will Only Get Worse As The Summer Draws Near

Commuting to work? Just going out for a morning coffee? Whatever the reason, if you have stepped foot in your car lately you have seen the rising gas prices.

As of March 3, the lowest price you could find in Clinton was at Gator Gas on the Clinton/Madison border selling regular for $3.53 a gallon if you pay cash. The prices on that day got as high as $3.69 for regular (again if you paid cash) at the Shell station off exit 63 on 115 High Street. The highest price was $4.15 for diesel via credit card at the same station.

When asked how the price increase has affected his business, Qutayva Tamim, a manager at the 115 High Street Shell said, “It is definitely affecting my business but I can’t really do anything about it.”

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Times are tough all over.

Tamim said that his supplier stays the same and he has to adapt to whatever they decide to charge him on any given day.

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“What’s really hurting the business is places like Costco and Stop & Shop are now selling gas,” said Tamim.

At places like Stop & Shop, you can use your specialized card for discounts as well as reward points that you gain over time that make gas cheaper immediately.

Tamim did claim, however, that he is buying a new system soon that will allow his customers to use their Stop & Shop cards at his Shell station in the future.

“I’m trying to run a small business here and prices are going up so high so quickly, it’s hard,” he said.

Tamim noted how the popularity of electric cars was starting to hurt his business as well.

“With dealers like Ford and Honda coming out with fully electric cars, people are buying them - and why not – gas is getting ridiculous,” he added.  

According to AAA, the national price of a gallon of gas is $3.25. In Connecticut, the average is $3.55. Those numbers are changing every day sometimes even every couple of hours. As the conflict in the Middle East escalates, it’s likely so will the price at the pump.

"There's a lot of political trouble in the Middle East, right now, especially in Libya,” said Jacklyn Ghergurovich, an AAA spokesperson. The political disruption is causing prices to jump."

Even though prices are going up, up, up, some businesses are not only keeping customers but perhaps doing slightly better than usual.

Liz Cooke, a manager at Gator Gas located at 154 West Main Street next to Gator Creek Farms said, “People are buying. They are paying more, but they’re buying.”

When it came to why she thought she was doing more business she said, “I think people are panic buying. They see the prices going up and before they go up any more they want to fill up,” she said.

No matter how the business was doing though there was one consensus, the prices are still going up, and it’s only getting worse.

The gas prices at Clinton stations as of noon March 2 were:

Regular, Plus, Premium, Diesel if applicable

Gator Creek:      

Cash - $3.53, $3.63, $3.73   

Credit - $3.63, $3.73, $3.83

Stop & Shop:  

Cash – $3.63, $3.73, $3.83 

Credit - $3.68, $3.78, $3.93. 

Save 10 cents per gallon with S&S card

Shell: (196 E. Main)   

Cash – $3.65, $3.79, $3.89, $3.88    

Credit - $3.69, $3.88, $3.99, $3.95

Shell: (W. Main/Grove)   

Cash – $3.59, $3.79, $3.89  

Credit $3.69, $3.89 $3.97, $3.95                 

Shell: (115 High St.)

Cash - $3.69, $3.82, $3.94, $4.09  

Credit - $3.75, $3.87, $3.99, $4.15

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