Mitt Romney, WaWa, And Pennsylvania Gas Prices
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Scott Detrow

Scott Detrow / StateImpact Pennsylvania
Mitt Romney campaigns in Wyoming County
This weekend, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney took some heat for using WaWa’s “amazing” touch-screen ordering system as a symbol of private sector creativity.
(The presumptive Republican presidential nominee also solicited heckles from the crowd for praising WaWa while deep in the territory of its archrival, Sheetz, which also uses touch-screens for food orders.)
But as the Washington Post’s Erik Wemple points out, the Central Pennsylvania convenience store market really is a competitive environment where chains are doing their best to one-up each other. “According to [the National Association of Convenience Stores],” he writes, “convenience-store competition is perhaps no keener anywhere across the country than among the hills and truck-heavy corridors of southern Pennsylvania. ‘The York, Pa., area is probably as competitive as you’re going to get,” says Lenard. “You have Sheetz, Wawa and Rutter’s.'”
And as we reported earlier this year, that competition helps keep Pennsylvania’s gas prices down:
So why is Pennsylvania’s averÂage gas price lower than most of those surÂroundÂing states, even when its taxes are higher?
Tom Kloza, the chief anaÂlyst for the Oil Price InforÂmaÂtion SerÂvice, said the state has one of the most comÂpetÂiÂtive gasoÂline marÂkets in the counÂtry. “That’s because you have comÂpaÂnies like WaWa, Sheetz. There’s Turkey Hill,” he said. “There’s a lot of indeÂpenÂdent chains where the busiÂness model isn’t so much about makÂing money on gasoÂline at the pump. It’s about getÂting the cusÂtomers to come inside and buy deli items.”
So stores don’t need to mark up their gas prices to make money. “You’re breakÂing even on gasoÂline. But the customer’s comÂing inside for a doughÂnut, or a sandÂwich, or a sandÂwich, or a candy, snack, soft drink. That’s where the real profit lies,” explained Kloza.