THEY'RE NOT JUST GAS STATIONS ANYMORE

When Bob Blank went to work for his father-in-law 40 years ago, the gasoline business was different.

A driver pulled his car into the gas station, where employees trotted out to fill the tank, clean the windshield, even check the tires. If the driver wanted, he could get a lube job and oil change there.

It was the same in 1960, when Blank went into business for himself, opening Bi-State Southern. Several years later, things started to change.

When drivers pulled into gas stations, there weren't any attendants coming out to help anymore. There was just a sign that said "U Pump It" and a cashier waiting to take the money.

"I think people would dearly love to see the full-service days return," Blank said. "I think it's a matter of getting people to do the attendant's job. When I started out, it was five or six days a week, 12 hours a day in all kinds of weather.

"We've turned a generation since then. People have no idea how nice it was to get full service."

Blank's two gas stations followed the national trend, adding the convenience items people came to expect. In today's market, a self-serve station without at least some gum, candy and sodas is unheard of. Stations with everything from fountain sodas to headache remedies are the most common.

Jim Maurer, general manager for Rhodes Oil Co., oversees 15 convenience stores in four counties. He went to work for the company 20 years ago and saw the changes come.

When there were only a few Rhodes 101 Stops, the stores only sold gas, cigarettes and candy. Then Rhodes bought a liquor store and put gas on one side, liquor on the other. The idea grew from there.

"Gas just wasn't going to make it by itself," Maurer said. "We started offering beer and cigarettes, but now we have a deli, fountain sodas, health and beauty aids. Everyone in the industry saw that you were going to have to get into something else."

The whole idea, he said, is in the name. Every store must be convenient for a segment of the population. It has to be in their traffic pattern or near their homes -- which is why Rhodes has five stores along Highway 61 in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

People who work in the stores must be friendly to ensure repeat visits, Maurer said. People like to stop for items like coffee and cigarettes at the same place every day, and they like employees to recognize them.

The friendliness factor is especially important for people who work drive-through windows, said Jeff Holzum, co-owner of Host Enterprises Inc. He and Kevin Stanfield started operating Wink's Convenience Stores nine years ago. They have nine stores in four counties.

The Wink's sites are known for 50-cent, 32-ounce sodas dispensed through the window. Nobody seems deterred by the almost constant lines leading to sodas, cigarettes or beer.

"The windows were there when we bought the stores, but we just promoted them a whole lot more," Holzum said. "The person who works the window must be a certain kind of person, because there's car after car and there are all types of people in them. The window person must give good, friendly service no matter what."

Changes are coming again in the convenience store industry, he predicted. Stores are moving away from the grocery items and stocking more quick snacks. Expect to see fewer boxes of cereal and more boxes of caramel corn and bags of chips.

Maurer, the Rhodes general manager, said he thinks finding grocery items of the right kind is most important. The challenge is keeping up with various trends and giving people what they want.

"The product they want now may not be what they want in five years," he said. "We will never replace the grocery stores, but people want things quickly and don't want to stand in long lines or deal with parking."