Local station sells $2.83 gas

By Octavia Mitchell
Anchor / Reporter
Published: October 8, 2008

Some good news at the pump.  The price of gas continues to drop, and it’s really dropped at one station in the Charleston area.

Cars lined Highway 17 South in Redtop trying to get to Dodge’s Chicken Store.  The store is selling regular gas for 2-dollars-83-cents-a-gallon.  Drivers are traveling from near and far and waiting in line for nearly thirty minutes to cash in on the deal.  Seretha Tuttle was on her way back to Beaufort, but turned around when she saw the deal.  She says, “Two-eighty-three, oh my goodness yes.” Catherine Cumbee says, “This is the lowest prices I’ve seen in years, I can’t believe it.  I don’t mind waiting in line for a little bit if I can get cheap gas.” Distance is not an issue.  Shelia Soffer is from Huger.  She says, “This is a Godsend here.  The economy is hurting and hitting everybody, and if you find a deal at $2.83, when’s the last time seen the price..it’s been a long time. I mean look at this eight gallons, and it’s only 24 dollars.  That’s great, it’s like Christmas.”

Gas prices locally average around $3.59 a gallon.  Store manager Libby Hanson says the price of crude oil has dropped.  They’re getting it at a cheaper price, and they want to pass those savings on to their customers.  Hanson says, “The price of the barrel has dropped below 90-dollars for crude oil, so we’re getting it at a cheaper price.  As long as we can get it at a good price, that’s what we’re going to sell it for.  We’re not selling below cost. We’re not doing this so everybody can come buy our chicken, which we would love for them to, but we’re not selling below cost.  We’re making a reasonable profit.  We start at six o’clock in the morning, and the lines are lining up, as soon as we turn the lights on the canopy.” Hanson says they’re not limiting the amount of gas, but when they’re out, they’re out.  While the gas is still flowing, SUV owners like Bill Utnick, who usually pay around 115-dollars to fill up his suburban, are filling up, at a bargain.  Wednesday it cost him, around 83-dollars.  Utnik says, “Thirty-dollars means I can get some lunch now, some dinner, take my wife out to dinner, and the kids.”

Dodge’s gets one load of around 85-hundred gallons of gas a day, and sold out at four o’clock Wednesday.  The store has had lower prices for several days now, but when they dropped to under three dollars Wednesday for the first time, police came because the line of cars trying to get gas caused traffic concerns.