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Aiming to attract more shoppers and tap into a new revenue stream, Dominick's Finer Foods is joining the growing number of supermarket chains that are building gas stations outside their stores.
Northlake-based Dominick's, the second-largest grocery store chain in the Chicago area, will open its first gas station by yearend outside an operating supermarket in Calumet City, and sources say plans are in the works to open as many as 100 over the next three to four years.
Local competitors like jewel Food Stores and Meijer Inc. are also getting into the gasoline business, for many of the same reasons that supermarkets began adding bank branches in the 1990s. jewel is opening its first gas station this week.
"It's an opportunity to build loyalty and draw more customers to our stores," says a Dominick's spokesman. "It's nothing more complicated than that."
Gas and groceries have a lot of cross-marketing potential too, say proponents of the strategy. Many supermarket chains that operate gas stations give shoppers a discount on gasoline if they buy a certain amount of groceries, and some offer deals on groceries for buying gas.
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