
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 24, 1993                   TAG: 9312240087
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

7-ELEVENS DONE IN BY OLD GAS TANKS

The Southland Corp. said Thursday it closed three of its Roanoke Valley 7-Eleven convenience stores because it wasn't feasible to spend the $150,000 or more per site for new underground gasoline tanks.

The Environmental Protection Agency's new requirements for underground tanks require businesses to replace old tanks. Southland decided instead to shut stores in West Salem, on Cove Road Northwest and on Colonial Avenue Southwest, a spokesman said.

He said the closings, done since October, were timed with the expiration of the leases on the sites. He also said the company will remove the old tanks.

A fourth 7-Eleven site, on Bridge Street Southwest, is under new ownership and is operating as 7-Day Junior Market.

Southland, based in Dallas, has been evaluating its operation for the past year. It is focusing on upgrading its more profitable stores with better products and prices and eliminating locations that don't fit the company's new direction.

It has closed 440 stores, 300 of which sold gasoline.

But even with fewer stores selling gas, the company said it has increased its profit margin on gasoline. For the quarter ended in October, the profit margin for gasoline was 14.8 cents per gallon, compared to 12.5 cents during the 1992 period.

The are more than 14,000 7-Eleven stores worldwide. Southland has about 5,900 stores - either company operated or franchised - in the United States and Canada. The company has 21 stores in the Roanoke and New River valleys and Lynchburg area.

by CNB