AMHERST — The pumps are flowing again at Ren’s Service.
The town’s lone downtown service station, which halted gas sales in early June over concerns about the rising price of the Mobil product offered by its supplier, is again filling up the tanks of customers’ vehicles.
With thousands of gallons of Gulf Oil-brand gas delivered to Ren’s at 161 North Pleasant St. last Thursday night, gas sales resumed on Friday.
“After being gas free for about a month we are proud to announce that we are back in the fuel business,” Jeff Gladu, who runs the family-owned business with his father, Reynold, wrote in a Facebook post over the weekend.
On Monday morning, the Gladus, joined by Jeff Gladu’s son, Ty, were helping customers at the business where, for the first several days, cash-only gas sales are being made. The station is undergoing a debranding process that includes removing Mobil’s credit card machines, taking down a Mobil sign attached to the building and covering up a sign along the street.
“Everything that had a Mobil on it is gone,” Gladu said.
Gas is available weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and weekends from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., along with the full service that people had grown accustomed to, from not only pumping the gas but washing the windshield and checking the oil.
The return of gas sales was achieved after Ren’s broke its contract with its previous supplier, Global Corp., whose representative was based in Ludlow. Jeff Gladu said the business had been trying to get out of this arrangement for several years, finally doing so by not selling gas for seven consecutive days. This allowed Ren’s to enter a new set-up with a supplier called Nouria, which operates along the Eastern seaboard and offers 16 brands. Having a previous relationship with Nouria’s territorial representative, Gladu estimates that he is paying up to 30 cents less per gallon than what Mobil would be selling its product for.
Though less expensive, and meaning better profit margins for Ren’s and lower prices for customers, there should be no dip in quality.
“I said to my dad, ‘we’re going to go independent, but we’re not going with a watered-down gas,” Gladu said.
The new deal gives Ren’s the flexibility to set the price each week and to try to remain competitive with the growing number of stations that have gas discounts for people with shopping cards or gas cards.
Customers will have to pay by cash for the moment as the business transitions to a new credit payment option due to the move away from Mobil’s system.
Gas sales are in place a month after Reynold Gladu, who has run the business since 1973, put up hand-written “out of gas” signs and informed customers that he couldn’t abide by the high prices, stopping gas sales when the price hit $4.75 a gallon. “This is the biggest ripoff that ever has happened to people in my lifetime,” he said at the time
Since then, Jeff Gladu said support has been evident. “Customers and community support has been tremendous throughout the process,” he said, observing that people from as far away as Connecticut have driven to town to have their vehicles serviced in the bays. “Bay business has been great, and people are trying whatever they can to help us.”