DENVER — The convenience store industry in Colorado is facing major hurdles this year.
They range from crackdowns on how many — and where — new stores can be built to the kind of products they can sell to crippling operational costs.
With the removal of bans on the sale of wine and full-strength beer and an ever-growing population, there has been a rush to enter or expand the market until it seems as if there is a convenience store on every corner and it has created a backlash from some city governments and residents.
Denver is expected to pass an ordinance this month to severely restrict the number of stores in a certain location. The suburb of Louisville already became the first city in the state to place a cap of six convenience stores for its 20,000 residents. One gasoline station closed after the ordinance passed.
Lakewood, Colorado's fifth largest city, is eyeing a requirement that any new station must be at least a half-mile away from existing ones. It also would reduce the areas in the city where a station could get an exemption from zoning restrictions. The city has 52 locations serving 156,000 people. New stations would have to offer at least three electric vehicle charging stations.
Denver, with more than 700,000 residents, has 185 gasoline stations. Many are concentrated in a one-mile area which is the target of the proposed restrictions. The City Council is expected to pass an ordinance this month to ban any new station within a quarter mile of another, within 300 feet of low-density residences, and create a buffer zone from bus and light rail.
Authorities cite pollution, less room for much needed new housing, and traffic concerns for their actions to curb proliferation. In some cases, the public has been adamant about reducing the number of new stores. In southside Colorado Springs, residents lost a battle over the establishment of a new convenience store in their neighborhood.
In Monument, some residents are handing out petitions and taking to the streets to stop the popular Buc-ees from coming in. Light pollution, traffic, and the size of the store are among the concerns. Buc-ees recently entered the state, opening its first store in Johnstown.
Car washes also are being targeted. Lakewood wants the same half-mile separations between washes. It has 27 carwashes now.
The argument that more gasoline stations and car washes will increase pollution doesn't hold true, according to Grier Bailey, executive director of the Colorado/Wyoming Petroleum and Convenience Store Association.
"They already operate under stringent rules," said Bailey. "The penalty for violating fuel formulation or vapor recovery systems are severe: a $15,000 fine. The families that own stations in Lakewood don't need to be vilified to their neighbors to promote what is essentially a land-use policy."
As to the car washes, "They are required to be generally efficient in recycling water. Generally speaking, car washes use less water than someone washing their car in a driveway."
An ordinance just passed is causing the management of a long-time convenience store to consider closing its location in Denver and relocating in an area where the climate is more favorable.
Denver has banned the sale of flavored tobacco and nicotine, products that convenience store owner Zachary Shadi-Kingsley said took away forty percent of direct sales and an uncounted number of sales where people bought fuel and a drink. He is estimating a loss of 50 to 60 percent of his total revenue. He believes people will go elsewhere to get the products, not stop using them.
Of his business, he says, "It is a little gas station, a little neighborhood store. I know most of the people who come in." The business has been there for 28 years and his family has operated in other areas of the city for 50 years.
"We're looking outside Denver," he said. They have to decide soon as they have only until March 18 to cease selling those tobacco products. It is an unfair deadline and one in which they had no input, they say.
Overhead has been rising dramatically. With the new year the minimum wage has increased from $14.42 to $14.81. Some cities have raised it more.
The ban on plastic bags, an increase in gasoline and cigarette taxes, and a 27-cent fee for delivery are adding to the burden.
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS — Fuel thieves are getting more sophisticated all the time. In one recent incident, a group stole 5,600 gallons of diesel here, worth $30,000.
It was the second large theft at the Pilot Gas Station, which is unmanned. After the first theft, police began monitoring the station and noticed a large box truck sitting at a pump for an hour. They stopped it after it left the station. The men inside claimed they were there so long because the pump wasn't working. Police didn't buy it and searched the vehicle, discovering a fuel transfer system that allowed the men to fill up an external tank, then use an auxiliary pump to push more fuel into tanks in the storage area of the truck.
"I've been up here fifteen years and we've never had a gas theft this substantial," said owner Evan Noble.
COLORADO SPRINGS — This city is experiencing a carwash boom.
The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department issued six permits for new washes last year. There are already 30 operating, all under monthly memberships that include unlimited washes.
Super Star Car Wash is leading the way, opening four sites last year. It plans to launch four more this year.
The snowy weather and an outdoor-based lifestyle which allow vehicles to accumulate dirt along with the state's fast-growing population are appealing to Super Star.
SOUTH FORK — This mountain town only has 500 residents, but it is a base camp for tourists seeking hunting, fishing, biking and skiing — and a newly arrived couple decided it needed a convenience store. So they made it happen.
Matthew and Aricca Wallace plan to open their Basecamp Convenience by Memorial Day. He has the experience, having worked for Cenex in Kansas.
Nevertheless, they wanted to make sure to do it right. So they did a feasibility study and concluded the town could support a convenience store.
It will be a full-service enterprise, with 10 locations for fuel pumps and canopies for semis and RVs. Open in the winter, it will offer emergency truck parking for when the pass is closed and a nearby rest area is full.
Inside, the offerings will include a deli with fresh food, hot and cold grab-and-go food that families can eat on the patio while their dogs play in two parks: one for big dogs and another for smaller ones.
"Our vision is being a clean place where travelers can stop, get what they need, and get back out on the road," Aricca said.
GRAND JUNCTION — To Jack Buchanan, his property is nothing but a money pit and he wants to sell to QuikTrip. But to preservationists, the El Rancho Restaurant is a historic old eating place and they will not let it go easily.
Nearly 1,700 people have signed a petition against the proposed sale. Each day forty people stand guard with signs. They have turned down Buchanan's offer to work with the convenience store chain and move the restaurant to another location.
QuikTrip's plan is to erect a huge convenience store and gasoline station that will draw from the thousands of motorists that drive by every day entering and exiting the interstate.
"It's been here since 1948," said protester and former employee Bob Randall. "To tear it down would be terrible. This is the gateway to Evergreen. Do we need a truck stop here?"
Buchanan is at his wit's end, trying to please the people. No one wants to buy the aging restaurant and re-open it. He has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars while it was in operation.
So far, though, Jefferson County government does not seem sympathetic to the protesters. Officials note the building has not been designated an historical site that would require banning the project.
Originally published in the February 2025 issue of the O&A Marketing News.
© KAL Publications Inc. 2025