Amoco-Sing - Tallahassee, FL

Courtesy Newspapers.com - Tallahassee Democrat - October 13, 1997; Colorized 2022
Amoco-Sing #5054 (Bradfordville Sing Store)

Amoco - Sing

Sing Food Store | Deli | Amoco Gas

Tallahassee, FL

This post is a bit different from most on this blog because I'm not going to talk about a Sing Store, per se.  I'm actually going to talk about the three mysterious stores that I found while researching other locations I previously knew of.  You've seen me write about rapid divestment of former Sing stores in other posts, but it turns out that Amoco continued to expand Sing in one market until 1996.  Today we will be exploring the three "Amoco-Sing" stores: Tallahassee #17, Tallahassee #18, and Amoco-Sing #5059.  Unfortunately, I did not tour any of these stores since I was much busier working on the More Than Convenience aspect of this post.  I can tell you this:  none of these stores were built using the original Sing Oil Company's plans so they don't resemble any stations I have covered thus far.

Those of you who are reading this in March 2022 are probably tired of gas prices being all over the news, but I wanted to add this for history's sake.  If you look at the picture above, regular unleaded gas was $1.23 a gallon in 1997; conversely, in the last two weeks, it made the jump from $3.39 a gallon to $4.39 a gallon (at the same station, mind you).  This has brought gas prices to their highest levels since 2008 and is primarily due to Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine.  Time will only tell how long this spike will last, but the good news is crude oil prices have slowly begun to decline.

Some History

Tallahassee was Sing Oil Company's bread-and-butter and the results of that can still be seen over 30 years later.  It, along with LaGrange, GA, is the only market where all stations sold in 1990 have remained under the same collective ownership.  Tallahassee is different from LaGrange, however, in that Amoco wanted to hold on to the Sing name here with its last dying breath.  It was in-fact BP who drove the final nail through the coffin.  As I've mentioned previously, most stations outside Tallahassee were sold by Amoco around 1993.  In contrast, due to BP's and Amoco's overlapping market share, the FTC required Amoco, the Tallahassee market leader, to divest its stations as a term of their 1998 merger.  I did not realize this at the beginning of my journey, and it has only become more-and-more apparent as I have researched the topic.  Since I originally published my Bradfordville post, I have added the rarest look at a Sing Store I have found: a picture of a 1990's Amoco-Sing (the same picture at the top of this post).  The Tallahassee stores also seem to be some of the best kept locations I have visited as part of my research; they are some of the only ones I would want to go to if I didn't know the history behind them because most are modern and clean.

Courtesy Newspapers.com - Tallahassee Democrat - June 30, 1996

Until I began my research for Tallahassee #10, I was unaware that Amoco continued to use the Sing brand in the market up until 1999; furthermore, I never thought I would see a picture of a Sing Store in the late-'90s.  Tallahassee Democrat newspaper archives changed both of those ideas.  A few weeks ago, I managed to type in the right search query (I think it was "Amoco station") for the dates between 1990-1999 and low-and-behold, the picture at the top of this post appeared.  Even better, I found the picture of Tallahassee #17's sign while researching Thomasville Road's extensive construction projects.  I was thrilled!  While I have tons of pictures from the 1950's and earlier Sing Oil Company dealer stations, I had few from the '80s and none from the '90s.  I had wondered what Amoco did to these stores after the purchase; now I know.  They figured it would be best to brand the gasoline as Amoco's own but use the established Sing brand for the convenience stores.  This actually makes a lot of sense, and isn't all that much different from stores that used to sell Chevron gas like Tallahassee #10, Columbus #4 and Carrollton.  Fascinating.

As we see in these few examples, Amoco also ran a co-branded advertising campaign in the summer of 1996.  I wouldn't be surprised if this was the last time the Sing logo was printed in the news, and I am still surprised that it is featured so prominently in these campaigns.

Courtesy Newspapers.com - Tallahassee Democrat - July 28, 1996

I also learned from the ad above that Amoco decided to open a Pizza Hut counter inside Tallahassee #7 on North Monroe St.  Either pizzas didn't sell well, or Circle K didn't like the hassle, because the franchise was long-gone by 2008.

When I first found them, these stations left me perplexed; before the merger, there was never a Tallahassee store built after #14, so why was I seeing an ad for Sing Store #17?  Furthermore, what happened to Sing Store #15 and #16?  I have since confirmed that Amoco did open three new stores, with two of them coming from an unlikely suspect.  I looked up the deeds for Tallahassee #17 & Tallahassee #18 and found where Amoco had purchased these stations from none other than McDonald Oil Company on February 4, 1991.  You may ask "Who is McDonald Oil Company?"  It turns out this is the same Amoco distributor who would purchase several LaGrange & Columbus Sing Stores (LaG #1, LaG #2, LaG #4, LaG #5, Col #4, & Col #8) nearly two-years later.  I assume Amoco and McDonald must have worked together on other occasions because these two events seem too coincidental to be unrelated.  McDonald Oil operated its stores under the Money-Back branding in the 1990's, and changed to the Summit name in the 2000's.

For the first half of the decade, Amoco mostly adopted Sing's naming convention for the convenience stores (except for Bradfordville, which was renamed Tallahassee #2).  However, the stations were integrated into Amoco's numbering scheme by November 1995 and the former names were dropped.  I was not able to figure out all of the Tallahassee Sing Stores' new numbers, but here are the ones I can confirm:

• Amoco-Sing #5051 | Tallahassee #3
• Amoco-Sing #5052 | Tallahassee #7
  
• #5053?? (No mentions)
  
• Amoco-Sing #5054 | Tallahassee #2 | Bradfordville
  
• Amoco-Sing #5055 | Tallahassee #11
• Amoco-Sing #5056 | Tallahassee #12
• Amoco-Sing #5057 | Tallahassee #17 | Money-Back Store #19
  
• Amoco-Sing #5058 | Tallahassee #18 | Money-Back Store #18
  
• Amoco-Sing #5059
• #5060?? (No mentions)
• #5061?? (No mentions)
• Amoco-Sing #5062 | Tallahassee #8
• Amoco-Sing #5063 | Tallahassee #10
• Amoco-Sing #5064 | Tallahassee #13

 I was not able to figure out a pattern in Amoco's numbering scheme, so I'm not sure where these Sing Stores fall into place:

• Tallahassee #4
• Tallahassee #6
• Tallahassee #9
• Tallahassee #14

Circle K ended this strange posthumous era for Sing Oil Company when they purchased all 15 Tallahassee Amoco-Sing Stores in 1999.  The stations were converted to Circle K / 76 by the end of the summer, marking the last time the 64-year-old Sing brand would be used.

Money-Back #19 / Tallahassee #17 / Amoco-Sing #5057

 

Built in 1987 by McDonald Oil Company, Tallahassee #17 is located on a busy stretch of Thomasville Road just north of I-10.  The Money-Back #19 store filed for a business license in January 1988, so it must have opened shortly afterward.  Considering McDonald Oil only operated the station for three years, they must have quickly realized Tallahassee was a whole different animal than West Georgia.  This is one intersection I am shocked that Sing never tried to build a station near; it makes sense why Amoco wanted this station.  

Courtesy Newspapers.com - Tallahassee Democrat - February 26, 1995

I stumbled across the photo above while researching the Thomasville Road / Capital Circle / I-10 intersection and all of the traffic issues it has faced.  If you look below the gas prices on the Amoco sign, you can barely make out the Sing logo for the convenience store.

I also see two of Florida's colored US highway signs in the right side of the picture.  (The color for US 319 was yellow, and a few examples can be found here.)  For those who aren't aware, Florida used colored backgrounds for US highway signs until they were forced to conform to the rest of the country in 1993.  These signs managed to hold on for a few years after the DOT adopted the new standards but have long since been removed.  I've seen some pictures online of colored signs for US 98 and US 27 in the wild, but most markers of this vintage these have been taken down.

Money-Back #18 / Tallahassee #18 / Amoco-Sing #5058

This store was built in 1987 by McDonald Oil company, just north of Midtown Tallahassee. I should clarify that I am not certain whether or not this store was Money-Back #18, but it was built one year before #19 and there is no mention of a store between #17 and #20 on McDonald Oil's former website.  Circumstantial, yes, but it seems too good to not be true!

I otherwise don't know much about this store, and have never been to it.  However, from pictures I have seen online, it looks just like I would expect any other Circle K does in 2022.

Amoco-Sing #5059

Google Street View - April 2011

Probably the most unique of the Amoco-Sing stores, this was the only location Amoco built while using the Sing brand.  It is also unique because the convenience store was built inside a McDonald's (as seen above, notice the Circle K branding on the windows), and was the first fast food / convenience store combination in the city.  Circle K decided to close this location in May 2014 and proceeded to tear it down a month later.  A Mavis Discount Tire store now sits on the site, but there is a chance that the old sign hardware for the McConvenience is still standing, unused.  According to the Tallahassee Democrat, "The new McDonald's on Magnolia Drive is a standalone restaurant, with several improvements over the previous facility. The new facility has a double-lane drive-thru and larger seating capacity than the previous store, which shared space with the convenience store. The new store features contemporary decor, lounge-style seating areas and free WiFi.  The new location appears easier for cars to access than the old location; many of the 1996 objections to the old location was access to a store shoehorned between an office complex entrance and little-used Hays Street."

Courtesy Newspapers.com - Tallahassee Democrat - November 8, 1996

I've never understood why Amoco decided to brand this location as a Sing, especially since the gas would have been Amoco and the building is prominently McDonald's. The ad above shows no mention of Sing Oil Company, which only adds to my confusion.  The tax records show McDonald's as the owner of the property, so maybe Amoco / Circle K just held a lease for the convenience store and gas station portion.  Who knows.

That will conclude this post, for now.  Be sure to check out my Flickr page to see when (and where) you can find the second part of this post.  Let me just say, you are either in for a treat or I will put you to sleep!  This week, I published a new page describing the Publix's store prototypes which features some of my never-before-seen tour pictures.  Be sure to check it out!  Stay tuned more news to come next week . . .

- The Sing Oil Blogger

This post will include a separate feature from my series Sing Oil Blog: More Than Convenience in the coming weeks.  To check out my other posts from this series or to learn more, click on the logo above.

Additional Resources: 

Tallahassee - Leon County GIS

Google Earth Pro

Google Maps

Tallahassee #17 Parcel ID: 1105204080000

Tallahassee #18 Parcel ID:  212543 B0240

Amoco-Sing #5059 Parcel ID: 1131200440000

Leon County Property Records