NewsWest 9
ODESSA - A national study showed that gas stations nationwide are making a huge profit as gas prices are going down because more and more people are going in to get goodies.
But when we talk about small local gas stations following this trend, it gets a little tricky.
"They still come up to pick the cigarettes and the beer," Kelton Smith with N-N-Out Convenience Store, said.
Kelton Smith has been the owner of the N-N-Out Convenience Store for about 12 years. But since gas prices have taken a dive, his pumps have been out of duty.
"I was unfortunate and brought gas a day before it went down so I haven't been able to sell any until the price goes back up or I can average it out and afford to sell it," Smith said.
Smith bought gas at $3.19 a gallon and the next day it went down 30 cents.
"That's about how my luck runs, it's just one of those deals that you gamble and lost," Smith said.
But it's not the same story at The First Stop Groceries in north Odessa. Since gas prices have gone down, business has gone up.
"We've been doing pretty good actually because everybody comes in to get their gas and they come inside to get their cigarettes and beer and stuff, so we've doing pretty good," Sammi Russell with First Stop Groceries, said.
Russell was concerned that as gas prices went down, so would the size of her customer's pay checks since most of them work in the oil field, but that hasn't been the case.
"The paychecks that we've been cashing didn't go down, they all have actually been pretty good size pay checks and when they come in to cash the paychecks, they get gas, they get cigarettes, beer, food, they come and spend half of their paychecks here," Russell said.
