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HERALD STAFF WRITER
JACKSON - The arrival of a Valero gas station has sparked a price war and now Jackson has some of the cheapest gas in the state.
“When we came here, gas was $3.14 and that was not fair,” said Naser Salem, 71, owner of Jackson's Valero station, Salem and Sons Convenience Store.
As soon as Salem opened his station three weeks ago, he immediately set his prices lower than everyone else in town. He's continued lowering his prices since then and his competitors have dropped their prices right along with him.
“If it wasn't for us, gas in Jackson would be sky-high,” Valero employee Patricia Mason said.
Salem's competitors include David Newsom, president of the Newsom Oil Co., which owns a Shell station called the Jackson Minute Serve, and Steve Williams, owner of Jackson's Hess Trademart store, and they're not about to let Salem come in and undercut them.
“There's a price war going on in Jackson,” Newsom said, adding, “We're not afraid of a fight.”
Kathy Harris, Hess' general manager, agreed and said she planned to continue lowering the price to stay competitive with Salem.
“We'll keep it up as long as they can stand it,” she said.
Area residents are quite pleased with the new gas prices.
“We were always 10 or 15 cents higher than Roanoke Rapids, so I figured we were always getting a little ripped off anyway,” Jackson resident and small business owner Mark Short said,
The Jackson gas war may seem like a typical David-versus-Goliath story but, according to Newsom Oil Vice President and Jackson native Bernie Robertson, this is David versus David. Goliath is down the street.
What he's getting at is the fact that, while Newsom owns nine gas stations and Salem owns 11, they're both in competition with Williams, who owns more than 500 stations.
As to how long he planned to continue matching prices with Salem, Newsom said, “I can hang with him just as long as he wants to play games, but Hess? I haven't lost my mind.”
There is a distinct air of competition between Jackson's Shell station and the Valero station across the street from it. Before Salem came to town, Newsom was content to keep his prices one cent above Hess because, even though his fuel costs are higher than Hess,' he had to stay close enough to remain competitive.
When Salem came, he decided to stay one cent lower than Shell.
He said, “I'm fighting for a penny. I'll match them less a penny,” but Newsom is determined to stay even with him and Jackson's gas war is evidence the two have yet to find equilibrium. On Friday, for example, the stations changed prices several times.
The employees at Valero and Hess have gotten competitive with each other as well and have reportedly been heard shouting across the street at each other as they struggle to change the prices on their signs.
The employees at each store maintain they are friendly with each other and, if there has been any bickering, it has been friendly bickering.
When Valero Manager Debbie Somoza went out Monday morning to lower the price to $2.70 per gallon, she murmured, “Here we go. Let's see if they're going to play ball today.”
They did. As of Tuesday morning, gas prices were $2.69 at Shell, $2.69 at Valero and $2.67 at Hess.
Roanoke Rapids prices
Prices are a good deal higher in Roanoke Rapids. Tuesday's prices in Roanoke Rapids range from $2.95 to $2.94.
When asked why such a price disparity exists between his Shell stations, Newsom said he's losing money on every gallon of gas he sells in Jackson and subsidizes his losses there with profits made elsewhere.
Salem agreed and said he's losing roughly 20 cents per gallon in Jackson, but his fuel supplier is supporting him and helping to absorb those losses.
Salem, originally from Jerusalem, is new to Jackson but has been operating gas stations in Virginia and North Carolina since 1964. He owns 11 stations including stations in Prince George County, Chester, Tidewater, Petersburg, Dinwiddie, Lynchburg and Rocky Mount.
Newsom Oil has been around for three generations and is one of only three gasoline distributors left in Halifax County. (The other two are Dixie Oil and Blue Flame.)
Newsom's gas stations include one in Halifax, one in Garysburg and one in Weldon, four in Roanoke Rapids, one in Gaston, and one in Jackson.
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