Tallahassee Democrat Clippings
Historical Tallahassee Democrat Article Clippings
This is a collection of articles I have found over the years from Newspapers.com and pasted here to be "More than Convenient." The text was copied from the website's OCR engine and will likely contain errors; I have looked through the articles to correct any that I have found. Any press I have found, both good and bad, has been included for comprehensiveness. Articles are intended to reflect the sentiments at the time of publication and may be viewed differently in current times; however, history is not complete without full context. This page strives to provide some background to Sing's 40+ year stint in the Capital City. The articles are arranged chronologically and are intended to include the full text. Generally, classified ads and short mentions, such as articles describing a robbery, were omitted. Reader discretion is advised (Nothing terrible, just two articles from the '80s specifically warranting a PG-13 rating).
Business Bits
October 20, 1963
The Sing Oil Co. based at Pelham, Ga., has purchased a 15 acre tract
of land in the Thomasville, Ga., Rose City industrial District as its
new home. The Thomasville city commission sold 15.2 acres to the oil
firm for $7,500. Construction of an office and warehouse building of about 8,500 square feet is planned for use by early summer, 1964. Lewis
Hall Singletary, owner of the firm said about 30 people will be
employed at the Thomasville office. The firm was founded in 1935 and
owns, leases or sells to 125 stations in the Southeast. The Thomasville
site also will be used for the company's oil canning process.
NOTICE
July 17, 1967 - Tallahassee #3
Notice is hereby given that the City Commission of the City of
Tallahassee, will hold a public hearing at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, August
8, in the Commission Room at City Hall on the subject of a request by
Sing Oil Company for a variance to the zoning regulations to permit a
metal canopy containing 2,100 square feet in the front of property
located at 2037 Thomasville Road In a Residence "C" zoning district. The
variance is from the requirement that all buildings for business
purposes have walls of solid or air-spaced construction and be
constructed entirely of brick, stone, concrete, or tile and have fire
resistant roofing. All persons owning or residing upon or occupying
property within a radius of 200 feet of the property affected by the
application shall have the right to protest the variance. Protest must
be filed in writing at the Planning Department. City Hall, no later than
August 7, A. B. Hopkins City Manager
Oil Company Will Build Station Here
July 23, 1968 - Tallahassee #4
Tallahassee's Department of Building Inspection issued a permit for the erection of a $35,000 service station on Pensacola Street since last reported. Owned by Sing Oil Co., the station will be built at 2009 W. Pensacola.
Some Christmas Trees Didn't Find a Home This Year
December 29, 1973 - Tallahassee #3, #5
By MINDI KEIRNAN Democrat Staff Writer
Along with ribbon, gift wrap, and turkey at least
1,000 Christmas trees went unused during this yule season. "It happens
every three or four years. After a couple of years of running out of
trees before Christmas gets here, everybody that sells trees orders a
couple hundred more," said Roddy Lawrence, of Whitehill Equipment.
"Therefore everybody is overstocked." Whitehill Equipment ordered about
3,500 trees and had 200 left over. "Because we were closed Saturday,
Sunday, and Monday, I really think that had something to do with the
number we sold," Lawrence said. The Tallahassee Optimist Club, which
sells trees as an annual service project had about 300 of the 2,200 trees
it ordered remaining. "After we sold out of trees last year I was
really surprised to see so many trees left over," said Optimist
President, Jim Hay. Sears Roebuck also overstocked. "Our delivery was
two weeks late," said James Bennett, "but the number we sold really
decreased over last year." Sears sold more artificial trees and had 250
of the 650 live trees left over. Sing Stop and Shop on Thomasville Road
sold only 60 of the 85 trees it ordered. "I really think the quality of
this year's trees had a lot to do with the number of trees we sold,"
said Jerry Morris, manager. Another Sing store, located on Orange
Avenue, didn't order any trees this year. "We just felt that they
wouldn't sell," said Novia Sweat, the manager's wife. "After last year
we just felt that there wasn't any real profit involved." Nurseries
which sell evergreens as live trees reported a decrease in the number of
trees sold also. Nesmith's Nursery had about 30 of the 130 trees it
ordered left over. "But the good thing about live trees is that they can
always be sold as evergreens, which eliminates a lot of waste'" said
Jimmy Nesmith. Town and Country Nursery which also sells live trees had
34 of the 69 trees they ordered for the Christmas season left over. The
cut trees which were left over will soon be given a chance to decorate a
place uniquely their own, the city dump.
Notice
April 26, 1974 - Tallahassee #3
Notice Is hereby given that the Tallahassee Leon County Board of Adjustment and Appeals will hold a public hearing on Thursday, May 9, 1974, at 1:00 PM in Room 203, Leon County Courthouse on the subject of a request of Sing Oil Company for a variance from Section 6.21 of the Zoning Ordinance which requires a 10 foot setback in Commercial 2 zoning districts. If approved, the applicant proposes to construct an addition to an existing store to within 1.5 feet of the rear property line at 2037 Thomasville Road. All persons owning or residing upon property within a radius of 200 feet of the property affected shall have the right to protest the change. Protest must be filed in writing at the Tallahassee Leon County Planning Department, P O. Box 533, no later than May 8, 1974. Further Information pertaining to the request may be obtained from the Planning Department.
Grand Opening of Tallahassee #8 and #9
May 29, 1975 (Page 2)
Sing Fast Food Mall (Ad)
May 30, 1975 - Sing Fast Food Mall
APALACHEE PARKWAY TALLAHASSEE FLA.
Sing Fast Food Mall is a
revolutionary concept in eating out. Under one roof, we have brought
together all the food you enjoy when you take the family out to eat. You
will discover fine individual restaurants offering quality, fresh
food, fast service and reasonable prices. No longer will you have to
sacrifice your pizza, or submarine, or fresh seafood because your kids
want hamburgers. You may choose to sit in our bright, colorful booths,
or our garden gazebo, or our mod T.V. room. Regardless, eating is only
half of the enjoyment because you will be a part of food service for the
future at a time when you need it most today!
Lunch hour soap fans feast on fast food
July 6, 1975 - Sing Fast Food Mall
BY SUSAN LYKES Democrat Staff Writer
It's lunch hour. The place is filled with working girls. Hands and mouths are busy with pizza, salads, or submarines. But eyes are all glued on one thing, the soaps! Yes, lunch hour in at least one of Tallahassee's commercial districts is suddenly a whole new melodramatic scene. Midday television soap operas are no longer the exclusive entertainment of housewives, the unemployed, people staying home sick. WORKING WOMEN have found a new place in town where they not only can eat lunch, but take in a tear jerker or two as well. The Sing Fast Food Mall is their salvation, or maybe their degeneration, depending on your soap opera point of view. Top attraction at this food counter conglomeration that opened on Apalachee Parkway about a month ago is not the fried shrimp, the steakburger, or even the ice cream cones. It is the darkened room with lifesize color television screen where you can chew your fast food lunch, and sit mesmerized as the world turns. Actually, it is not "As the World Turns" that turns them on anymore. "The (young and restless)" Young and Restless" draws the 12 to 12:30 crowd. ' It was standing room only at the Sing during that half hour show one day last week. All chairs (about 45 of them but it was too dark to get a good count) were taken by women. Other women stood in the door and peeked in to see Mrs. Chancellor painfully pulling herself out of a hospital bed, while they waited for pizzas ordered at the food counter just outside the t.v. room. SEVERAL MEN ventured over to inspect the viewing room, with its enormous screen. But none sat down to take in a quick soap opera before getting back to work. Two young women who said they were regulars at the Sing went back to their jobs at the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles across the street as soon as "Young and Restless" was over. Another pair of women, headed back to work at the Winewood complex, admitted they attend the soap opera showing on their lunch hour every day. Many remained seated long after their meals were eaten. Guess they wanted to 'search for tomorrow.' A show that goes by that title must be gaining in popularity, said a Sing employee, since the 12:30 to 1 p.m. crowd in the television room is picking up. WATCHING ALL THIS, one can't help but wonder if people will soon start bringing bag lunches and make the trip across the street only to get to the television. Or maybe Sing will be serving t.v. dinners before long. And with color television available in restaurants, will anyone ever eat at home again? You don't absolutely have to be a television freak to eat at the Fast Food Mall, however. There are other seating arrangements. Guess those, are for people who just don't care that poor Mrs. Chancellor hobbled into the next hospital room only to find the man there wasn't her husband after all. He had been killed in the automobile accident she caused. Or maybe those other seats are for people who don't want to go back to work wondering whether Todd, with his broad shoulders and blue eyes, can help Dorothy remember. Or will the young woman spend the rest of her days in a hospital, her sweet face fixed in a distant gaze?
That convenience costs
September 18, 1975 - Tallahassee #3, #4, #7 & #8
By CATHY POWELL Democrat Assistant Wire Editor
The cupboard is bare. It is late, and you have no time to waste in a supermarket checkout line. So you trudge off to the convenience store for a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread. You'll pay for that convenience. In a survey Aug. 19-21 of 20 area convenience stores randomly selected, The Democrat found wide price differences for similar products. The cost of a five-item market basket ranged from $5.44 at one store to $6.91 at another. The same items would cost $5.30 at Publix in the Northwood Mall, a chain supermarket. Items included in the hypothetical market basket were a 20-ounce loaf of bread, one gallon of milk, one dozen eggs (large or extra-large), one pound of regular grind coffee and a five-pound bag of sugar. Complaints by students that prices near campus are higher appeared to be justified. Three of the four stores posting the highest prices are near the Florida State University or Florida A&M University campuses. Costs for the five-item basket: Majik Market, 890 W. Brevard, $6.65; Majik Market, 521 W. Tennessee St., $6.75: and Majik Market, 1922 Lake Bradford Rd., $6.91. Items at the Super X at 446 W. Virginia St., in Frenchtown, totaled $6.72. Egg and sugar prices showed the most fluctuation. Eggs at the convenience stores ranged from 73 to 99 cents a dozen. Store managers noted that egg prices change weekly. The lowest sugar price found was $1.41, and the highest was $2.35. These prices were linked by the store managers to the date sugar had been bought and put on the shelves. Recently, sugar prices have risen so later shipments often have higher price tags. All of the stores visited by The Democrat seemed clean and well-organized. However, in some cases there were obstacles posed by cases of beer stacked shoulder-high. Consumers face "Russian roulette" in some stores. The prices are absent, obscure or blurred, and a customer doesn't know what the price will be until the total appears in the cash register window. Items at Sing stores were well-marked. Beer was the item most frequently found un-marked in other stores. The Sing store at 2009 W. Pensacola St. clearly posted beer prices by size and brand above the cooler. Because of price fluctuations, eggs were generally unmarked. In many cases, prices also were not apparent on margarine. Other store owners put up cardboard signs for dairy items, bread or products with a special price. Sing stores also had the largest selection of items; this franchise also seems to have the largest stores. In addition to selection and well-marked prices, other factors to consider are the store's check-cashing policy and its hours. Few Majik Markets accept checks. "We must pay the check ourself if it bounces," a cashier at the Lake Bradford Road store noted. Junior Food Stores have a check-cashing card. The customer must list such information as address, phone and drivers' license numbers. The customer's credit record then is checked. The hours posted outside the store in some cases are understated. For example, the Majik Market at 411 Magnolia Drive is open two hours later than the 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. shown outside. Dixie Food Store, at 2807 S. Monroe St., has posted hours of 6 a.m. to midnight, but it is open 24 hours. Majik Market has the most outlets of any area franchised convenience store so more of them were included. An effort was made to survey stores in all parts of Tallahassee. In addition to the items in the sample market basket, the following were checked: one-pound margarine (stick), 16 ounces of bologna, 12 ounces of whole kernel corn, one quart of orange juice, 12 ounces of dishwashing liquid, 7 ounces of laundry detergent and a six-pack of beer (12-ounce cans). If the store had only one item available or just one price, it was listed as the "low" price. If the designated sizes were not available, the closest size was chosen, and the total was multiplied or divided in the final tally to reflect the same size. If an item was unmarked, the cashier was asked to provide a price.
Store checklist:
- Majik Market, 1922 Lake Bradford Road: $6.91. Open 24 hours, no checks accepted.
- Majik Market, 521 W. Tennessee St.: $6.75. Open 24 hours, no checks accepted, no margarine available on day surveyed. Highest price for eggs.
- Super X, 446 W. Virginia St.: $6.72. Open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. Accept checks only from customers the cashiers know. Good selection.
- Majik Market, 980 W. Brevard: $6.65. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., no checks, boxes in aisle.
- Majik Market, 1409 S. Adams St.: $6.61. Open 7 a.m. to 3 a.m., accept checks only from customers they know, no bologna on day surveyed. Highest price for sugar.
- Majik Market, 1020 W. Pensacola St.: $6.54. Open 7 a.m. to midnight, no checks.
- Majik Market, 3503 S. Monroe St.: $6.50. Open 7 a.m. to I a.m., identification required to cash checks.
- Majik Market, 1917 W. Pensacola St.: $6.46. Open 7 a.m. to midnight, no checks accepted, friendly cashiers.
- Junior Food Store, 1505 Jackson Bluff Road: $6.39. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., must apply for check-cashing card.
- Majik Market, 932 W. Tharpe St.: $6.32. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., cash checks for customers the cashiers know, many items unmarked, no bologna on day surveyed.
- Sing [Tallahassee #4], 2009 W. Pensacola St.: $6.23. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., accept local checks with a ID's, good selection and well-marked, especially beer and produce. Gasoline sold in front of store.
- Sing [Tallahassee #7], North Monroe Street: $6.19. Open 7 a.m. to midnight, accept local checks for amount of purchase, gas station in front of store.
- Sing [Tallahassee #3], 2037 Thomasville Road: $6.12. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., accept local checks for amount of purchase, good selection and layout, gas station in front.
- Sing [Tallahassee #8], Apalachee Parkway: $6.09. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Sunday, open to midnight Friday and Saturday. Most items were well-marked, except beer and eggs.
- Majik Market, 3005 Apalachee Parkway: $5.99. Open 7 a.m. to midnight, not much variety, stock in aisles.
- Junior Food Store, Woodville Highway: $5.89. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., check-cashing cards used.
- Junior Food Store, 1217 W. Tharpe St.: $5.79. Open 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., check-cashing cards used, no orange juice available on day surveyed.
- Majik Market, 411 Magnolia Drive: $5.74. Open 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., accept only local checks; bread, eggs and beer not marked well.
- Majik Market, 2135 N. Monroe St.: $5.59. Open 7 a.m. to midnight, checks accepted only from customers cashiers know.
- Dixie Food Store, 2807 S. Monroe St.: $5.54. Open 24 hours, plan to institute check-cashing card, much variety, gasoline station in front of store.
Sing Fast Food Star Trek (Ad)
September 20, 1975
Sing Fast Food Dinner For a Dollar (Ad)
October 6, 1975
Winners in advertising are announced at banquet
March 7, 1976 - Sing Fast Food Mall
Winners of the "Addy" awards were announced Saturday night by the Tallahassee Advertising Federation at its annual banquet at Wakulla Springs Hotel. - First place winners will vie against other local winners in the upcoming district competition. District winners will be announced at the American Advertising Federation's District Four convention which will be held in Tallahassee April 15-18. District winners will then go on to compete at the national level. First place winners and their winning categories are: Pruitt, Davis & Cuneo Advertising Agency complete coordinated campaign (local) for Sing Fast Food Mall; newspaper campaign (black and white, any size) for The Everhart Companies; catalogs and brochures for the Lewis State Bank; and "Best of Show" award for the "Heritage" brochure prepared for the Lewis State Bank. Francheschi Advertising Agency regional - national single direct mail piece created for Francheschi Advertising: specialty advertising (under $2,500 budget) for Citizens Commercial Bank; sales kit and - or dealer aids for the Omelet House of America; and public service advertising, print, single piece, for the LeMoyne Art Foundation - Florida Symphony Orchestra. The Tallahassee Democrat -newspaper local, full-page color ad for the Tallahassee Mall Association; regional-national color for Tone Soap (Armour-Dial) created by Kenyon & Eckhardt, Inc. of New York City: newspaper campaign for the North Florida Fair, newspaper retail, black and white ad, for Shaw's, created by Vicki Dwight Agency. Craig Opsahl business publication, full-page, color ad for Update Magazine. WBGM Radio single market commercial spot, 60 seconds or longer, for Wicker Picker: regional : national spot, 30 seconds or less, for Mr. A's University Shop; and local radio campaign, not more than 3, for Fish Freaks. WCTV Television local single market spot, 30 seconds or less, for Hinson's Trading Post; local single market campaign for Tallahassee Mall; and regional - national campaign for Faulk Chevrolet. McElwee's & Munroe print material (letterheads) for Wicker Picker. Design I Advertising Agency graphic arts (logo and trademark sign) for Sunshine's Place. Lynn Enterprises, Inc. -specialty advertising (budget over $2,500) for Lewis State Bank. Vicki Munroe - sales promotion (menus) for Sun & Moon Restaurant. Peter Barton Productions -public service advertising campaign for the Florida League of Cities. Peter Barton Productions and WCTV also tied for first place in the potpourri award category. WCTV's entry was its nightly sign - off spot and Barton Productions' entry was for the Bicentennial Commission.
Sing Fast Food Mall Equipment Auction
October 14, 1976
Tallahasseeans discover self-service
June 14, 1977 - Tallahassee #8
By JOY FOMBY Democrat staff writer
Are you one of those people who pull into a service station, roll the window down an inch or so and bark instructions at a uniformed attendant? And you've never filled-'er-up yourself, or checked your own oil? Your days of having others wait on you and your car may be numbered. Self-service gas stations are growing in popularity. You can save as much as six cents a gallon by pumping your own gas, according to Mike Kirkland, retail supervisor for the Tenneco Oil Company. Kirkland did a survey of the Tallahassee stations in January and discovered that 30 percent of all service stations here have at least one self-service pump. And 35 percent of Tallahassee drivers use them. Kirkland, 37, said he expects the figures have gone up at least four percent since the survey. By 1980, he said, he thinks 75 percent of all stations will be self-service. The average savings, Kirkland says, is three cents a gallon at self-service stations. At Dixie Oil it costs 64.9 cents a gallon to have someone put unleaded gasoline in your car, while you pay only 59.9 cents if you do it yourself. How are Tallahasseeans doing at the pumps? Jim Christopher, manager of the Sing Oil station at 2849 S. Apalachee Parkway, says the customers are gradually improving. "My night-man once saw a man drive away with the nozzle from the pump still in his car. Gas went everywhere," said Christopher. But that doesn't happen too often, he said. People are learning how to turn the pump on and off and control the gas flow. Dori Coxen, 16, who filled her car's tank at the USA service station at the Tallahassee Mall, said she now is in complete control of the pump. But she wasn't always so confident. "Before, it (the gas pump) would shut off because I was putting gas into the car too fast. Now, I put it in very slowly," said Dori. Cressi Kirkland, 25, took the nozzle with both hands. But she had to let it go to wrestle the gas cap off her car. And before that she just had to find the gas cap. She finally found it right under the license plate. One man, who preferred to remain anonymous, probably because he spilled a little of the gas on himself and the ground, said it was his first time using a self-service gas pump. Altha Fletcher, a secretary, said she has to be careful she doesn't get carried away. "I never go beyond what I plan to spend," said Mrs. Fletcher. Not a penny? "Not even a penny," answered Mrs. Fletcher. C.L. Cook, 55, said it is not himself he is concerned about. It is the women. "I don't think no ladies should pump their gas. For one thing, it makes you smell like gasoline," said Cook. Christopher said his biggest problem is getting some people to pay for the gas they pump into their car. "It's the most aggravating thing," he said and it happens at least once a week. ' He said just the other day a man filled up his tank and left without paying, waving at the gas attendant. George Standerry, 23, associate manager of Tenneco station, 1912 N. Monroe, said he has the same problem. "Once or twice a week somebody will just put gas in his car and not pay. The attendants must pay for this," said Standerry. "We give license numbers, descriptions of cars and the drivers to the Tallahassee police, but nothing happens," said Christopher. "If we do catch anybody, we will prosecute. It's shoplifting, you know." Tallahassee Police spokesman Carl Swanson said police get about one call a day from service station operators who complain that someone did not pay for gas. Swanson said it is the responsibility of the self-service station operators to make sure the gas is paid for. "Self-service is a convenience to them. They can't place the blame on the police department for not catching those who don't pay," he said.
Convenience stores use alarm systems bought by taxpayers
July 17, 1977 - Tallahassee Sing Stores
By COLLINS CONNER Democrat business editor
Taxpayers in Leon County not only pay higher grocery prices at convenience stores, they also pay $5,000 for each of six robbery alarm systems placed in the stores by the Leon County sheriff's office and the Tallahassee police department. The alarms, known as SCAT units, are rotated from convenience store to convenience store in an attempt to reduce robberies at those outlets and both the police and the sheriff's office consider the units worthwhile. Carl Swanson of the police department said officers must intensify crime prevention efforts because the convenience stores "won't help themselves." "Robbers never hold up a convenience store with two people in it. But the store would have to pay a bundle to hire an extra person. So they say, 'The hell with it, let them steal a little bit.'" In the first six months of the year, there were 12 convenience store robberies in Leon County. Another was robbed last week. "Convenience store robberies are mild this time of year," said Sgt. George Brand of the sheriff's office. "You should see what happens from September through December. This (12 robberies in six months) is nothing!" The sheriff's office has three SCAT units. The police department also has three and is awaiting delivery of three more. The sheriff's office paid $250 for each of its units. The state paid another $250 and $4,500 each was paid by the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA), a tax-supported federal agency. All costs of the units used by the police department were paid by LEAA. The police department got its first three units under an LEAA grant that provided SCAT systems at no cost if the police could show they invested manpower in the area to be covered by the alarm system. The three additional units they are getting were given to another city police department under the same grant. But that city stopped using the systems and LEAA offered the units to Tallahassee. Majik Market's regional security manager, Jack Carpenter, said his company could install its own robbery alarm systems for several hundred dollars and rent them thereafter for $30 a month. But Carpenter said it the installation charge was too high. The sheriff's office estimates costs of robbery investigations at about $1,000 each. If a suspect is arrested through that investigation, the sheriff's office estimates court costs at another $12,000 to $15,000. The ci of imprisonment is not included in these totals. The sheriff's office says seminars on robbery protection have been held for convenience store owners and other local businessmen. Convenience stores have a potentially crime-proof design, according to the sheriff's office. With windows spread across the front of the store, passersby and law enforcement agents could see anything happening in the store. "But most convenience stores have their cashier's counter at one end of the store, next to a wall instead of in front of a window," Brand said, "So activities at the cashier's counter are hidden from easy view by those outside the store. They also line their merchandise shelves parallel to the front window. "A robber can stand by the cashier's counter and scan the aisles to see if any customers are in the store. But a deputy coming upon a robbery from outside the store has no way of seeing if there are customers in the aisles who are endangered." The stores have been advised by the sheriff's office to place their cashier's counter in the center of the store for easy visibility from the outside. It has also been recommended that aisles be placed perpendicular to the windows and that safes be in full view, rather than behind the counter or hidden in a hole in the floor. These practices have been followed by the Sing Oil Co. in its Tallahassee Sing stores. Sing has not placed its shelves perpendicular to the windows, but has kept the shelf height at 54 inches, which would make any adult customer visible from the outside, according to Sing vice president John Parker. Parker says that in the nearly 10 years Sing stores have operated in Tallahassee, only one has been robbed. But Sing has only six of the 50 convenience stores in the county. The two other major chains, Jr. Food Stores and Majik Market say the layout suggestions offered by the sheriff's office won't work. Both claim that one attendant, in the middle of the store, can't watch both sides at once. Therefore, they say, shoplifting will increase. Sing keeps several attendants in each store. Sing says increased shoplifting with the centralized cashier's counter hasn't been a problem. But Jr. Foods and Majik Markets say their stores don't have a high enough volume of sales to warrant two employees on one shift. With the heavy robbery season approaching, are law enforcement agencies planning to purchase more SCAT units? The sheriff's office says no. No units are in the budget at this time, although the office is looking with interest at a new SCAT unit that can be installed in 10 stores at one time. The police department, other than putting the three new units into operation, has no plans for SCAT purchases. "Other than perform our function of protecting Leon County citizens, there's little else we can do," said Brand. "We can't tell a businessman how to run his business. If he doesn't protect his establishment, his employees and his customers, then we have to do what we can to make these residents safe." Stores stop robbers by having employees smile. What security measures are taken by local convenience stores? "I tell all my employees to look each customer in the eye, say hello and be nice to him. That lets the robber know you've seen him and he may have second thoughts about robbing you," said Junior Food Stores district supervisor Robert G. Suber. Suber considers employee attitude the best crime prevention technique available. "If your personnel sit behind the counter reading a paper, they encourage shoplifting and robbery," he said. "Robbers and shoplifters don't want attention, so we look for attentive employees." Junior Food Stores also have crime prevention systems, Suber said, but he would not say what the systems are. He said secrecy was vital to the success of his company's systems. But any systems are judged by their profitability, he said. "You have to weigh the cost of security versus the practicality of expense. We try to act (on security proposals) as best we can and as inexpensively as we can. I could go up on security, but the consumer would pay the price because I'd go up on the price of his groceries," he said. Suber said cost was also a factor in decisions about hiring more than one employee per shift. Sunshine-Jr. Stores, based in Panama City, had $68,899,000 in sales revenues last year, according to Florida Trend. The firm's net income was $1,389,000. Jack Carpenter, regional security manager for Majik Markets, considers visibility and lighting two keys to reducing crime at convenience stores. His company identifies "high risk" stores and concentrates on increasing the parking lot lighting and interior lighting. Ads are removed from windows nearest the cashier's counter to improve visibility from the street. Carpenter says his stores limit the amount of money in their registers to about $100. He has submitted a security budget which includes switching a number of store safes to the "drop safe" type a safe in which money from the register is dropped through a slot. Drop safes cannot be opened by the employee. Only certain managers have combinations to the drop safes. He praised cooperative law enforcement agencies, saying officers had often sat in coolers of his stores as a "silent watch." He said that his company's security department often worked its own "silent watches" in stores throughout the state. But that only "high volume stores" could afford to hire extra personnel to perform that job. Only Sing Food stores keep several employees working at the same time at all their stores one in the store and two at the gas pumps or vice versa. Sing stores do have a central cashier's counter and keep the safe in a spot considered "highly visible." All Sing stores have burglar alarms, according to Sing Oil Company vice president John Parker. Sing doesn't plan additional security devices since its stores do not have a robbery problem.
Grand Opening for Tallahassee #10 (Ad)
August 4, 1977
Logic evaporates in game of gas-pump roulette
August 6, 1979 (Page 2) - Tallahassee #9
By BROWNING BROOKS Democrat staff writer
The question asked of the Tallahassee gas station operator was fairly simple: What are your prices? The answer was a while in coming. He couldn't remember. He had to walk out and look at his pumps. Had he walked across the street, down the road or across town he probably would have seen prices far different from his own. In a crazy-quilt pattern of unpredictability, gasoline prices continue to zip upward, seemingly wiping out all the rules of logic in their path. Gone are the signs mounted outside service stations that told conscientious motorists what prices to expect. Dealers can't change the numbers fast enough. In an informal poll conducted late last week, The Democrat checked gas prices at stations in Tallahassee, Quincy, Marianna, Monticello, Madison, Perry, Bristol, Blountstown, Panacea and Port St. Joe. The surveyors hoped to spot trends and pass along hints on how to look for the best buy. Alas, they unearthed only one constant about the gasoline retail business: Everyone who has anything to do with it says it's a mess. "I've only got one more place to go and that's to Jimmy Carter," William Malone said. He sells gas at his Chevron station in Greenville and he's disgusted. "I've contacted everybody I can think of about the situation. If I had it to do over again, I would not have gone into the gas business," Malone said. "My business just can't increase because I can't sell all that I want." Tommy Cook, at Lawson's Texaco in Perry, has had to cut back the hours and days he is open to make it through the month on the allocations he has. Thursday, for the first time, he charged more than a dollar a gallon for premium gas. "Well, we finally made it," he sighed. "Actually, I think people are resigned to the $1 figure. After 10 years in the oil business, I don't really know what's going to happen now." The race is on. Gasoline prices in some areas have risen 8 cents in two weeks. The American Automobile Association reported last week that Florida motorists paid an average of 93.2 cents a gallon for regular, 96.9 for unleaded and 98.4 for premium. The Democrat's survey turned up a much wider range of prices in the Panhandle area, suggesting the only way to find a bargain is to shop around. Thursday, several stations in the area charged 99.9 cents a gallon and one charged more than a dollar a gallon for unleaded gas. The dealers say that they can't get enough gas to sell, that they are all operating under different price ceilings placed on the amount they can charge for their gas and that they still must compete with the guy down the street. And the guy down the street says the same thing. Oil company executives deny they are putting pressure on the dealers at the choicest locations to jack up the prices even higher. But they are trying to speed up the pump manufacturers so dealers can be supplied with new pumps that register $1 a gallon. "We sell to the independent operators, who then set the pump price, all in line with federal regulations," Mike Malcolmson, public relations director for Texaco in Florida, said in a telephone interview. "There are a few stations owned and operated by the company and only in that instance would the company determine the pump price," but it all would be done under federal regulation. By July 13, the toll-free hotline established by the U.S. Department of Energy last January to receive complaints on price gouging had logged 333 complaints from Florida but none from the Panhandle area, according to spokesman Ron Henderson. Of the 46 stations contacted, the Tenneco station at 1240 Thomasville Road in Tallahassee won the derby. A self-service station, it was selling regular for 82.9 cents a gallon and unleaded for 87.4 cents. The most expensive was the Union 76 station off Interstate 10 on State Road 71 near Marianna. Regular gas sold for 98.9 and unleaded for more than a dollar. And that's the self-service price. For full service, the dealer adds a 50-cent charge to the total bill The general manager, John Stokes, said his station was one of the "guaranteed gas" stations in Gov. Bob Graham's web of 30 stations spread out over the state to reassure summer tourists to Florida that they can get gas. "According to the government we are allowed to make 15.4 cents a gallon," Stokes said. "But the Department of Energy sent me a letter cutting us from 100,000 to 57,000 gallons for eight months of the year. That's less than half what our needs will be. December is one of my busiest months and that's when we will be cut back. Maybe the government should get out of the gasoline business and leave us alone." Nolan Plunkett, at the Shell Station on U.S. 90 in Quincy, agreed. The most I can make on a gallon of regular is 13 cents but I'm making 10, because I have to be competitive," he said. "If I charged 93.9 cents a gallon for full-service regular instead of 90.9, people would go to the Bay station down the street" Many dealers reported closing early, but some with lower prices said they weren't doing badly at all. "We're selling as much now as at this time last year and we're only open 40 hours a week," said Charlie Moore at the Sing store at the intersection of Capital Circle and Centerville Road in Tallahassee. All self-service, his regular gas is priced at 86.2, unleaded at 90. "We can't go any higher," he said, "but we are making plenty of profit. We close at noon on weekdays and we're open eight hours Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We could sell much more if we could get it but our allocations are lower and our price ceilings lower because we sell Chevron gas, even though Sing owns the store." In comparison, prices at the Sing service station at 2037 Thomasville Road were about 2.8 cents higher across the board. The gas prices at Union 76 in Bristol are lower because there is no middle man (a distributor) involved, said Bristol 76 owner Jimmie Weaver. Weaver is also the local distributor for Union 76. But responsibility for gas price increases doesn't fall on the local gas station dealers, Weaver said. "It's not the local man, it's the oil company," he said. Union Oil Co. went up on its gas prices 7.2 cents a gallon within a week between July 24 and Aug. 1, Weaver said. He explained the spiraling gas-price cycle this way: The oil companies pass prices on to the jobbers (distributors), who in turn pass them on to the station dealers, and the buck is finally lifted from the pockets of consumers. But the gas station dealers have to take the brunt of complaints from the public, he said. Some prices even went down last week. At the Interstate Texaco on Thomasville Road, Assistant Manager Jim Baker lowered prices for full-service regular from $1.02 a gallon to 98.4 cents, and full-service unleaded from $1.04 a gallon to 99.4 cents Wednesday night. His reason? It was just too confusing, he said. His old pumps would not read $1 a gallon. "When I had the pumps set at 51 and 52 cents a half-gallon, the public thought they were being ripped off," he said, "especially the women. They couldn't understand. So I'm taking a loss now of a nickel a gallon, and I'm not going over a dollar until a lot of people do or until I get new pumps."
Sing's True Value Grand Opening (Ad)
November 1, 1979 - Tallahassee #10
At Sing stations, lines still are long
April 20, 1980 (Page 2) - Tallahassee #9 & #10
By Allan Gold Business writer
There's a glut of
gasoline in the United States, but still there are gas lines in
Tallahassee. The reason for the local queues has nothing to do with fuel
shortages, however. The lines are forming at the Sing stations at 5012
Crawfordville Road and 1990 Capital Circle NE because their self-serve
gasoline is cheaper - at least 10 cents a gallon cheaper - than the product
of most of their competitors. The average self-serve price of gasoline
in Tallahassee this month is 117.1 cents a gallon for regular and 122
cents for premium, according to an American Automobile Association
survey. (A year ago, gasoline prices were in the 60- and 70-cent range.)
But the two Sing stations are selling Chevron gasoline, produced by
Standard Oil Co. of California, at 102.2 cents a gallon for regular and
105 cents for unleaded. Those are attractive prices, considering the
talk of $2-a-gallon gasoline by the end of the summer. But what disturbs
drivers is that Chevron can charge $1.02 for regular when the other
stations can't. The prices that gasoline stations can charge are
regulated by the U.S. Department of Energy. What consumers pay at the
pump depends on where they are buying the gasoline (for example, at an
independently owned or company-owned station), how much the station paid
for its gasoline and how much the refinery paid for its crude oil. The
government rules and limits are complex and change regularly. For our purposes, a rule of thumb is that the less
the refinery spent for its crude oil, the less the gasoline ultimately
will cost us. Chevron's (Standard's) gasoline is cheaper than that of
other refiners, oil company representatives say, because much of the
crude oil Standard purchases carries a cheaper price tag per barrel than
that of its competitors. Standard probably is the largest producer of
Alaskan crude oil, the lowest-priced domestic crude, says E.O. Smith,
division marketing manager for Chevron. Likewise, it is probably the
largest consumer of Saudi Arabian crude oil, the lowest-priced foreign
oil, Smith said. "The government allows Standard to charge a specified
price for its gasoline. Then, the retailer (and wholesaler, if there is
one) is permitted to add to what he paid for the gasoline. When the gasoline gets to the pump, the
price makes Chevron one of the cheapest gasolines around. It's been that
way for about 18 months," Smith said. "We're not charging this price
because we're good guys," said Dallas Strickland, vice president of Sing
Oil in Thomasville, Ga. The Sing stations are charging the maximum
amount the law permits, he said, and Standard is charging Sing the
maximum price. Sing has other stores in the area that don't sell
Chevron, Strickland said, and some of those have had to cut their
gasoline prices to remain competitive. "I know it's been confusing to
people," he said, "because they're all Sing stores as far as they're
concerned." The self-serve Sing stations sell their gasoline from 7 a.m.
to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. At one time, the hours were 7 a.m. to
noon, but the stores received increased gas allocations. Gasoline is
abundant in most places basically because demand for the product has
declined as the price has increased. "We are definitely using less and
that's good, but it creates some public relations problems," says Tom
Barnawell, associate director of the Florida Petroleum Council. "But
that's good too." The image problems of which Barnawell speaks stem
from continuing price increases in the face of slackening demand.
Gasoline prices in Tallahassee are up about 2 cents a gallon this month
compared with March. In Florida, the demand for gasoline in January was
5.7-percent less than a year ago, while it was off 2.7 percent in
February compared with a year ago. Nationally, gasoline deliveries in
1979 were 5.1-percent lower than deliveries in 1978. The answer,
according to the American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group,
is the increased price of foreign crude oil and increased production and
transportation costs.
Ex-FAMU ball player held on theft charge from Tallahassee #8 Sing Store
January 21, 1982 (Page 2) - Tallahassee #8
By LaNEDRA CARROLL Democrat staff writer
A former Florida A&M University football player and a convenience-store employee have been arrested and charged with grand theft in a series of transactions with stolen credit cards. Alfonso Gardner, 20, was jailed Tuesday on two counts of grand theft and accused of using stolen credit cards to receive about $1,600 worth of cash and merchandise, according to Jeff Hutcheon, an investigator for the Tallahassee Police Department. Roosevelt Wilson, athletic director at FAMU, said Gardner, of 2902 Prospect Ave., had been a reserve defensive lineman for the FAMU Rattlers during the past football season, but left the team this semester when he was put on academic suspension from the university. Tallahassee police gave this account of the events leading to Gardner's arrest: A credit investigator for the Sing Stores reported to the police department that he had received credit-card slips from the bank indicating that stolen cards were used at the Sing Store on Apalachee Parkway. The investigator said he also noticed that the slips appeared to have inappropriate authorization. He later discovered that the same credit card was used four times the same day at the same Sing Store. The investigator questioned Cindy Pullam, the Sing Store employee who later was arrested, and learned that Gardner was her friend and neighbor. Ms. Pullam told the investigator that Gardner had approached her and asked her to ring up a credit-card receipt and give him cash in return. Ms. Pullam said she did as Gardner requested. In return, she said, Gardner paid for a tank of gasoline for her car, according to police. Gardner is accused of returning to the store once in December and three times in January to receive cash for a credit-card receipt and, police said, offering tanks of gas to the employees who helped him. Police reports indicated that Gardner received $200 to $300 during each transaction. Ms. Pullam is suspected of giving six stolen credit cards to Gardner, police said. Although two other employees are suspected of allowing Gardner to complete the illegal transactions, no other arrests had been made Wednesday, police said. Ms. Pullam was charged Monday with one count of grand theft and later released from the Leon County Jail on her own recognizance. Authorities say Gardner also is a suspect in a separate credit card-case. Gardner remained in the Leon County Jail Wednesday night in lieu of $20,000 bond $10,000 for each count of grand theft. Authorities say the investigation is continuing. In a separate incident, another former Florida A&M University football player was arrested Monday on charges of forgery and uttering. Forgery is fraudulently signing a check; uttering is cashing it. Randall Dean Godwin, 19, later was released from the Leon County Jail on his own recognizance. Godwin also was on academic suspension from FAMU, according to Wilson. He was a reserve defensive lineman during this past football season.
Pumps are smokin' as gas prices fall
April 6, 1982 (Page 2)
By STEVE DOLLAR Democrat staff writer
Thomasville man dies in explosion
April 25, 1982
By LaNEDRA CARROLL Democrat staff writer
action line
August 16, 1983
Down at the corner near my house there is a lot with a sign that reads, "coming soon, another Sing store." I've been waiting three years. How much longer? K.L.
No more than 30 days, we were told. Dallas Strickland, a manager with Sing's Thomasville headquarters, told us that sign has been up for 10 years at the corner of Bannerman Road and Thomasville Road. But, he said, engineers are now approving the final plans and the ground should be broken within the next 30 days.
It's a "Close" Place To Come Home To! (Killearn Lakes Ad)
October 9, 1983 - Pictures
One stop fills the tank, tummy and fridge
July 4, 1984 (Page 2) - Tallahassee Sing Stores
By Mark Skoneki Special to the Democrat
Sing and Dixie Oil, two companies once just in the gasoline business, now peddle pastrami sandwiches as well as petroleum. These are the folks who were among the first to make it easy to fill your stomach and gas tank in one stop. Dick Singletary, president of Sing Oil, a Thomasville, Ga.-based company, said he was the first to open the combination stores in Tallahassee in 1965. Now he has eight such stores in the city and 55 in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi and Alabama. "We're moving back more to the old country-store concept," Singletary said in a telephone interview. The competition is getting rougher, he said, from companies such as Dixie and the myriad of convenience stores that have gone the opposite route by putting gasoline pumps outside their buildings. "We're trying new ideas," Singletary said, including opening delicatessens at some of the stores. Two such delis are already open in Tallahassee and another scheduled to open this week. Don't think that Sing has chopped up the competition with its delis, because Dixie, too, has opened sandwich shops in two of its Tallahassee stores, with a third on the way. You can find fried chicken at Dixie, as well as pastrami and other deli sandwiches. Sing offers similar fare, all made to the customer's desire and heated in a microwave. Sing hammers back at Dixie with a line of hardware items, available in three Tallahassee stores. Dixie says it has no immediate plans to add nails and screwdrivers to its stores. Bobby Lindsey, president of Dixie, said his company actually opened its first three combination gasoline-grocery stores in 1963 in Georgia, but they quickly closed. "It was too early," Lindsey said. Dixie came back with a new design for the combination stores in 1971 these were air-conditioned and now about 40 of his 103 units in Florida, Georgia and Alabama offer both gasoline and food. "I think the traveling people really like it," said Lindsey, who spoke from his Tifton, Ga., headquarters. "I think the local people probably just stop and fill up (with gas) and go on, but travelers like it better." Both of the privately held companies can trace their roots to one family. Sing was founded by Lewis Hall Singletary - the current president's father - in 1935 in Pelham, Ga. J.W. and W.F. Lindsey, cousins of Dixie's president, founded Dixie Oil in 1947, and W.F. Lindsey of Tallahassee is chairman of the board. Both companies remain entirely in the hands of their families. Lindsey said his company is always trying to add new things to the stores to stay competitive with "the fine folks" at Sing. Sing claims that it can match most grocery store prices, but a survey of random products at a Sing store on Thomasville Road, an Albertson's grocery store on North Monroe Street and a Publix on Apalachee Parkway found that the prices at the supermarkets were lower in most cases. Ford, the Sing vice president, said Albertson's has the "cheapest (prices) in the world" and thus comparing Sing to it was unfair. He suggested the Publix comparison, in which Sing fared better. "I think that basically we mark our prices about the same (as grocery stores)," Ford said. Singletary said Sing can be competitive with many supermarket prices by buying from food cooperatives and using other purchasing techniques. "We've always tried to have a full line of grocery store items and competitive prices," he said. "I believe a convenience store needs to have just about everything you need to pick up." Both oil-company presidents have been happy with the success of their combination stores. "It's worked because people could save time," said Singletary. "We've had real good success with them," says Lindsey.
Back To School Sale (Ad)
August 16, 1984
Spring Fever Sale (Ad)
March 28, 1985
Thomasville Homes plant purchased by Conner Corp.
June 5, 1985
By Osker Spicer
Democrat staff writer
Officials of the Conner Corp., a North
Carolina-based producer and distributor of manufactured homes, Tuesday
announced the purchase of the Thomasville Homes plant in Thomasville,
Ga., that produces manufactured homes. The acquisition, a top official
said, will allow the company to expand its sales centers in the Florida
Panhandle area, including the opening of a new sales lot in Tallahassee
this fall. Allen Moore, Conner vice president for marketing, told the
Democrat during a phone interview from Newport, N.C., that the entire
staff of about 125 employees of the Thomasville Homes manufacturing
plant would be retained. He said there would be no major changes in the
structure and operations of the plant, purchased from the Sing Oil Co.,
he said. "We're quite pleased with the management there," Moore said,
adding that Conner had purchased homes from the plant since February.
"And with our planned (sales) expansion in Panhandle Florida, Alabama,
Mississippi and Georgia," he said, "we may well need additional
manufacturing capacity. We have some additional property as part of the
purchase, so we could expand the plant in the future." But for the near
future, Moore said, the plant will continue to produce its usual run of
housing-units, averaging about five daily. Conner has five plants in
Georgia, North Carolina and Texas composing its manufacturing
subsidiary. The corporation's sales and marketing subsidiary, Conner
Home Sales Corp., presently operates 130 outlets throughout the South,
he said, with regional centers in Panama City, Fort Walton, Jacksonville
and Dothan, Ala. "We hope to identify a site in Tallahassee before
September," he said, adding that new sales centers also would be opened
in Pensacola and about 13 other areas. Moore declined to reveal the
purchase price and other details of the transaction, completed Monday.
But he said that Conner had purchased the plant and most of the other
assets of the Thomasville company.
Oil, advertising executives join fight against 4-cent gas tax
July 4, 1985 (Page 2)
By S. Renee Mitchell Democrat staff writer
The fight against a proposed gas-tax increase now before the Leon County Commission is no longer a one-man battle. Two executives from oil and advertising companies joined the anti-gas-tax drive Wednesday by launching a poster-and-petition campaign against the 4-cents-a-gallon, gas-tax increase on gasoline and diesel fuel. "It's not just a handful of people," said Peter Mitchell, of Peter Mitchell Associates, an advertising agency. "It's hundreds of thousands of people who buy gasoline every day." Mitchell and W. Dallas Strickland Jr., vice president of the Thomasville-based Sing Oil Co., join trucking executive W. Guy McKenzie Sr. as members of Citizens Opposed to the Gas Tax, a group McKenzie started in 1982 to single-handedly sabotage a proposed 1-cent gas-tax increase. The County Commission is expected to vote on the 4-cents gas tax after a public hearing on July 17. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. in the Department of Transportation auditorium, 605 Suwannee St. in the Haydon Burns Building. No referendum is required. If the county passes the tax by at least a four-fifths vote, it would go into effect Sept. 1 and last for 10 years. The money, expected to be $3.2 million in its first year, would be split evenly between the city and county and would be used for transportation needs. Voters narrowly defeated a similar 1-cent, gas-tax increase three years ago. County officials said McKenzie, chairman of the board of McKenzie Tank Lines Inc., was partially responsible for its defeat after he financed a one-man, 11th-hour advertising blitz against the tax. McKenzie has said the recently proposed tax would cost his truck refueling business $48,000 a year. This time, however, McKenzie apparently has help in stirring up opposition to the tax. Members of the citizens group so far have spent $2,600, including a $1,000 half-page, anti-tax advertisement published in the Democrat on June 23. McKenzie paid for the ad, which called the proposed 4-cents tax a "fuelish decision." Since the ad, group members said, commissioners have received a flood of calls, mostly negative, about the tax increase. Commission Chairwoman Gayle Nelson has said she received a lot of calls about the tax, but she was not available for comment Wednesday. "I don't think that we're going to have to spend a lot more money on this," Mitchell said. "In our opinion, the people are opposed to it. If (commissioners) want a gas tax, let's put it up to a referendum." The citizens group started Wednesday displaying at most gas stations in the county 5,000 posters stating, "You have no say. . .but you're still going to pay," in large black and red letters. The posters encourage motorists to sign, at the station, an anti-gas-tax petition and send a signature postcard pre-addressed to county commissioners. " Strickland said most oil distributors are backing their efforts. They believe the gas tax will drive motorists out of the county to fuel up, he said. "Every time you raise the price of gas, we're the ones that catch the heat," he said. "At some point, you just get enough of taxes. We think we are overburdened already." For each gallon of gasoline purchased, 9.7 cents is state taxes and an additional 9 cents goes to the federal government, said Bill Hagan, tax specialist with the state Department of Revenue. Strickland said the group agrees that county roads need repairing, but it objects to the proposed tax as a method of paying for transportation needs. "I just think they need to approach it from another angle," he said. "This is an easy choice, not the only one. As for as an alternative tax plan, I don't know what that can be.
Tallahassee #11 Grand Opening Sale
September 26, 1985
New Business
December 18, 1985 - Tallahassee #13
Sing Oil Co. of Thomasville, Ga., has opened its 10th convenience store-gas station in Tallahassee at Route 20 and Capital Circle S.W. The store will be managed by Lewis Hall Singletary II, grandson of Sing Oil's founder, L.H. Singletary Sr.
Porn magazines in stores harder to find, but not because of high sales
June 16, 1986 (Page 2) - In coordination with locally-focused article below
By Michael E. Ruane Philadelphia Inquirer
They are fast vanishing from drug and convenience-store shelves - not Tylenol capsules or some other tamper-prone commodity, but adult magazines such as Playboy and Penthouse. And it's not because they're selling out. Across the country, thousands of drug and convenience stores - by one count as many as 20,000 - have stopped selling such magazines during the last three years. The pace has quickened dramatically, with more than 8,500 of these outlets pulling them off the shelves in the last four months. Behind much of the action has been a continuing anti-pornography crusade spearheaded by groups such as the National Federation for Decency, based in Tupelo, Miss., and including voices as diverse as those of feminists, the Moral Majority and Roman Catholic bishops. But a major boost to the campaign has been provided in recently by the federal government in the form of the controversial Attorney General's Commission on Pornography, which has concluded that there is a link between pornography and sexual violence. The commission's work has won praise from anti-pornography groups and consumers who blame pornography for many of society's ills, ranging from the deterioration of the family to child rape. But it has drawn the ire of civil libertarians who see the crusade as a major attack on the First Amendment's free-speech guarantee. It has also enraged magazine publishers, such as Playboy's Hugh Hefner, who complained about "sexual McCarthyism," and Larry Flynt of Hustler magazine, who said Hitler, too, first burned "the trash and the garbage that nobody supposedly wanted to read." Playboy, the American Booksellers Association and the Council for Periodical Distributors have filed lawsuits against the attorney general's commission. The panel's final recommendations due out formally next month - likely will cause more controversy. The chief result of the attention so far has been the erosion of traditional adult-magazine outlets. Drug and convenience stores for the most part have sold only soft-core magazines such as Playboy. Although opponents conceded such publications were not as sleazy as the extremely explicit pornography sold along sex strips, they said such publications were nonetheless pornographic and did not belong in family stores. These opponents staged letter-writing campaigns and boycotts. There were demonstrations at the homes of corporate officials. Much of the pressure was directed at 7-Eleven, which, with 7,800 stores, is the country's largest convenience-store chain. The chain, operated by the Southland Corp., was the largest single retailer of Playboy, which sells 1.7 million copies a month from newsstands - 35 percent of its total circulation. On August 6, 1984, the National Federation for Decency organized a protest at about 300 7-Eleven stores nationwide. Southland officials said the demonstration would not affect their sales policy. Less than two years later, Southland had changed its mind. The 11-member pornography commission was formed in May 1985 by Attorney General Edwin Meese to find new ways of dealing with pornography. At one commission session in Los Angeles in October, the Rev. Donald Wildmon, executive director of the National Federation for Decency, testified that 7-Eleven stores were "the leading retailers of porn magazines in America." He said "major retailers of porno magazines" included 12 other drug, convenience and book-store chains across the country. The commission then sent out a letter that further fueled debate. The Feb. 11 letter, sent to chain stores and other national businesses mentioned by Wildmon, stated that the panel had heard testimony "that your company is involved in the sale or distribution of pornography." The companies were asked for a response prior to the commission's "drafting its final report section on identified distributors. . . Failure to respond will necessarily be accepted as an indication of no objection." In February, Peoples Drug Stores Inc. of Alexandria, Va., began eliminating adult magazines from its 840 Peoples Drug and Rea & Derick Drug stores. On March 6, Dart Drug Stores Inc. of Landover, Md., announced that it would no longer sell adult magazines in its 80 stores. On March 21, Gray Drug Fair Inc. of Cleveland announced it was ending sales of adult magazines in its 450 stores. On April 10, Southland Corp. said that it was discontinuing sales of adult magazines at its 4,500 company-owned 7-Eleven stores and was urging its roughly 3,600 franchise stores to do the same. Twelve days later, Rite Aid Corp. based near Harrisburg, Pa., said that it would stop selling adult magazines at its 1,400 drugstores. Nine days after that, Thrifty Corp. in Los Angeles made the same announcement about its 582 drugstores. On May 22, Philadelphia-based Atlantic Refining and Marketing Co. decided to stop sales of adult magazines at its 87 company-operated AM-PM Mini-Marts and recommended that its 201 franchise stores do the same. Most of the companies denied that the commission's letter, if they had received one, affected their decisions. Several major drug and convenience store chains continue to sell adult magazines. "We did. We do. And we will," said Ray Cox, a senior vice president of Circle K Corp., the Phoenix, Ariz.; company that has 3,350 convenience stores. "The same (First) Amendment that protects Billy Graham also protects the publisher of Penthouse."
Local store owners cut back on magazines
By Soneni Bryant Democrat staff writer
Adult-magazine racks in local convenience stores are almost as bare as the subjects in the magazines. Store owners are voluntarily eliminating certain publications from their stock, as a clash over their sale is brewing in Tallahassee. Since Southland Corp. pulled adult magazines off the shelves of its 7-Eleven stores, local stores here are handling fewer adult magazines. "We want to be a good-neighbor store," said John Parker, vice president of Sing Oil Co., which owns nine Sing stores in the Tallahassee area. Parker has cut down the sale of adult magazines, from about eight publications to four and has discontinued selling them in certain stores. "At each store, our customers are generally within a three-mile radius. If people in that community don't want (adult magazines), we don't want to sell them," Parker said. Parker said management decided recently that fewer adult magazines would preserve Sing's image as a family convenience store. In Tallahassee, the Majik Markets will only sell Playboy and Penthouse magazines. Eckerd drug stores removed adult magazines from its shelves last summer. Albertson's only sells them in the liquor stores behind the checkout counter. And Suwannee Swifty has reduced the numbers on its racks. Some store owners still say they are not bowing to public pressure and that a wholesale ban of the publications would make them less competitive with stores that still sell the magazines. But many of them are restricting sales to the more accepted and popular Playboy, Penthouse and Playgirl magazines. Anti-pornography activists say that's good, but not good enough. They want to go one step further and ban all adult magazines that are, in their opinion, extremely obscene and violent. They even want store owners to scrutinize the uses of the magazines and forego selling them that month if they do not meet their standard. That's where the problem begins, said State Attorney Willie Meggs. The community's standard has not been tested in Leon County, he said. But he didn't feel that its day in court is far off. "We want to remove the most obscene and end kiddie pornography," said Carole Griffin, of Right to Life Big Bend and leader of a loose-knit group of anti-pornography activists. She is convinced pornography, soft or hard core, leads to violent crime and rape. She is passing out courtesy cards to managers urging them to be more discreet about magazine sales and check their content. By law the magazines cannot be sold to anyone under age 18. Also, they must be displayed in a way that's out of the view of minors. In most stores they are kept behind the cashier counter and are partially covered. At Dixie Food Store on South Monroe street, store manager Bill Mayne said they haven't considered eliminating any of the magazines they sell. Behind the counter there are about 10 different magazines being sold. "It's like anything else," Mayne said. "If I want it, I want it. I haven't had anybody complaining to me about the magazines. A lot of people come in here purposely to get them."
Stations won't admit to gas war, but prices for unleaded are failing
November 4, 1987 - Tallahassee #10 & #13 (Pictures)
By Gary Blankenship Democrat staff writer
Drivers passing gas stations at Crawfordville Highway and Capital Circle might be doing double takes these days at some stations, the price of unleaded regular gas is cheaper than regular leaded. In fact, while unleaded typically - around Tallahassee - was going for more than 90 cents a gallon, as of Monday two stations at that corner were marketing it for 75.9 cents. Another station nearby charged 73.9 cents. According to the Tallahassee office of the AAA Auto Club, the average price for self-service unleaded gas is $1 statewide, 95 cents in Tallahassee. Is this that rarest of all things since the fuel lines of the early 1970s - a gas war? A spokesman for Suwannee Swifty, which is selling the gas for 73.9 at a store on Crawfordville just south of the truck route, denied there was a gas war, and then declined to comment on the company's marketing strategies. A spokesman for Spur, which has a station at the intersection selling unleaded for 75.9, also declined to comment. Dick Singletary, president of Sing Oil, said the low prices grew from the intense competition in the area: Sing also has a store at the intersection selling unleaded at 75.9. Singletary said that the prices started dropping two or three weeks ago. He, too, was reluctant to label it a gas war. "It's just beating the competition," he said. "It's the same thing out at State Road 20 and the truck route." Singletary said there's usually one or two such hot spots somewhere in Tallahassee. "It varies from one side of town to another." He also said that sales had not markedly increased since the prices dropped. Tallahassee resident Ed Godwin was trying to change that. "I think it's wonderful," he said at the Sing station Monday. "I wish it would stay this way. I might do a little bit more traveling. When it gets up to 90 to 95 (cents per gallon), it hurts a little." Godwin said he had already brought two cars for fill-ups at the station. He spoke as he was pumping unleaded into his 30-foot motor home filling the 95-gallon tank.
NOTICE
April 30, 1988 - Tallahassee #8
Notice is given that the Tallahassee-Leon County Board of
Adjustment and Appeals will hold a public hearing on May 12, 1988, at
1:00 P.M. in the Program Room, Leon County Library, Lower Level,
Northwood Mall, 1940 North Monroe Street, on the subject of a request by
Sing Oil Company for a variance to the City Sign Ordinance
(83-0-2157AA) which provides that a nonconforming permanent on-site sign
shall not be replaced by another nonconforming sign and the sign height
permitted is 25 feet. The applicant's property is located at 2849
Apalachee Parkway. If the variance is approved, the applicant proposes
to replace an existing internally lighted plastic sign with 194 square
feet with new signs of the same type containing 150 square feet
utilizing the existing support structure which is 36 feet 6 inches high.
In addition, the applicant proposes to remove a free standing sign on
Apalachee Parkway and reduce the number of signs on the building from
two to one. You are hereby notified in accordance with Chapter 80-150,
Laws of Florida, should you decide to appeal any decision made by the
Board or take exception to any findings of fact with respect to any
matter considered at the hearing referred to above, you may need to
ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made. Such a record
shall include the testimony and evidence upon which the appeal is to be
based. Any persons affected by the application shall have the right to
protest the change. Protest may be filed in writing at the
Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department, Fourth Floor, City Hall,
300 South Adams Street, no later than May 11, 1988. Further information
pertaining to the request may be obtained from the Planning Department.
Lottery accounting procedures cause of retailer's frustration
June 12, 1988
In April, the Florida Lottery drafted (withdrew) money from one of our bank accounts twice for the same settlement. We discovered the error and called our lottery representative to correct the problem and return our money. - We did not receive a return call for four days so we called again. This second call resulted in an admission that the lottery was in error and would refund our money in 30 to 40 days. We were astonished and asked why the delay. The response was "accounting procedures" that could not be changed. Consequently, by the time we receive our money, the lottery will have had it for about 60 days. Our company does considerable business in Florida and deals with many agencies of the state, generally with satisfactory results. This is not true of the lottery. , The lottery seems to have forgotten one important fact about lottery sales, retailers such as Sing Food Stores sell their product for them. Yet, we are treated with little regard for our own operating or economic concerns. Without retailers, the lottery would have to set up its own retail system at a cost considerably in excess of the 5 percent we are paid. We have tried discussing issues like this with the lottery, but we only receive replies of little or no substance to our letters, and shrugs of the shoulder from their employees. Someone with authority in the state needs to control this monopoly and require it to operate in a more civil manner. The question is, "Who?"
J. MICHAEL CAULLEY
Controller
Sing Oil Company
An all-in-one emporium
Sing Store's size, diversity attract a lot of familiar faces
June 29, 1988 (Page 2) - Tallahassee #10 (Pictures)
By Gary Blankenship Democrat staff writer
You can buy a replacement blade for your circular saw, a post-hole digger, a mailbox, screws, fishing tackle and a beach ball. So this must be a hardware store with some toys, right? Well, you can also buy fried chicken, a hot dog, or a freshly made deli sandwich and other fresh edibles, and then grab a table to eat at. You can even buy a magazine to pass the time with while you munch. But it's not just a restaurant. You can also buy fresh bananas, onions, cereal, canned goods, cold soft drinks and beer. Outside, you can fill your car or boat with gas, and, for 50 cents, vacuum the dirt out of your car. This all-in-one emporium is the Sing Store at the corner of Crawfordville Highway and Capital Circle Southwest. It's a familiar stop for Tallahassee-area beachgoers who want to top off gas tanks and coolers, and for those who need a tool or food. For nearby workers it's a popular lunch spot. It was created by the family-owned, Thomasville, Ga.-based Sing Oil Co. It's part of Sing's philosophy of being flexible and responsive to customers, according to the people responsible for the store. Those people include Frank Sullivan, who has managed this Sing since it opened in 1977, Jerry Marsh, Sullivan's first supervisor, and Ron Montgomery, Sullivan's current supervisor. The Sing credo calls for giving each store manager the flexibility to tailor the merchandise to fit that store's customer base, and always listening to what customers want. That, and hiring good employees. "Your biggest assets stand on both sides of that counter" said Marsh, gesturing toward one of the store's cash registers. It seems to work.
The Capital
Circle-Crawfordville Highway store, one of the 12 Sings in the
Tallahassee area, averages about 2,000 customers a day, Sullivan
estimated, and about 25 percent more on Saturdays. Only one other
Tallahassee-area Sing store in Killearn Estates approaches the size and
diversity of the Capital Circle-Crawfordville
Highway outlet. On a recent day, two of those many customers were
Charles Lamb and Darvin Koonce, eating a Sing lunch while talking over
the hood of a blue pickup truck. "It has better food," said Lamb,
explaining why he was at Sing instead of other convenience stores and
restaurants in the area. "I work down the road and I come here for lunch
sometimes." Added Koonce, "It's more convenient and there's plenty of
parking places and the waitresses are a little faster than at other
places." A larger-than-normal lot, which allows more parking, is one of
the things that attracted Sing to the southwest location. Marsh said the
company figured more parking would attract more customers, including
those towing boats and trailers who would have an easier time getting in
and out. It also gave room for a larger-than-normal store. When the
store first opened, it had around 2,600 square feet and about seven
employees - typical for a convenience store. Then, Sing started doing what
it does with any store. "When you get a piece of property, you look at
the demographics and then you adjust not only for your customers and
area, but for what your traffic in front of you brings," Montgomery
said. And that traffic was obviously headed for the beach. "We had so
much beach traffic, we wanted to do something," Marsh said. "People
heading for a beach home, they always need to do something. We looked
around and bought a True Value franchise and pretty much put in a
full-line hardware store." That happened in 1980, and at the same time,
the store was expanded to about 6,000 square feet. The hardware line
increased business throughout the store. But Sullivan said the profits
of carrying a full line of hardware were eaten up by the carrying costs
of the large inventory. So, after about three years, Marsh said the
decision was made to drop the True Value franchise and cut the hardware
stock 75 to 80 percent, to just the most popular items. That, of course,
opened up space in the store. "At that time, a lot of convenience
stores were getting into the deli business," Marsh said. "We did a lot
of research and looked at a lot of companies with delis. We put in a
sandwich deli." That was in 1984. By 1986, fried chicken was added, and
the deli also offers hot dogs and hamburgers. With it came tables and
chairs for customers. Changes have come outside, too. Within the past
year, the gas-service area has been remodeled, including installation of
faster pumps. There are four rows of pumps for customers. Volume at the
store, Sullivan estimated, is two to three times that of an average
convenience store. And his work staff reflects it "I've tripled my work
crew (to 22) over the years," he said. And the hardest part of his job
is "getting a crew together that can handle the pressure of the volume
we do. If they don't work together as a team, it will run over them."
The next important thing, he said, is listening to customers and what
they want. Marsh said that the Sing chain, which now has 52 stores in
five states, encourages listening so much that store managers have the
authority to add product lines without supervisory approval. That way,
each store adapts itself to its customers. "There are things here that
wouldn't sell in Killearn," Montgomery added. It's worked for Sullivan's
store. Of one weekday morning's business, Sullivan said, "I know 75
percent of the people in here now are regular customers." Of course,
Marsh and Montgomery are thinking of new ways to get more regular
customers, which could mean more changes. Said Marsh, "We're thinking
about a breakfast program for the deli. There are workers going in town
during the week. You've got the early people going to the beach on
weekends. ..." Stay tuned.
Gas prices hit a bump at the pump
July 16, 1988
Democrat staff report
Refinery problems and summer demand have brought higher gas prices to the Tallahassee area
Gasoline retailers are blaming a slump in Gulf Coast refinery production and the usual summer increase in consumption for a 5- to 10-cent jump in prices at most pumps in Tallahassee. The major culprit according to the retailers: fires and delays at several Gulf of Mexico refineries that have put a crimp in the nation's inventory. R.B. Sheffield, North Florida district manager for Gulf Oil Co., and Dick Singletary, owner of Tallahassee's Sing stores, said those refinery problems led to higher wholesale prices (what distributors pay for fuel). That in turn, forced their Tallahassee stations to charge more. An informal survey Friday of the city's gas stations showed, for example, that regular unleaded gas, which a week ago ranged from 83 to 87 cents a gallon, now costs 93 to 95 cents. Singletary said industry experts expect the increase to be temporary, prices should drop as the petroleum inventory rebuilds.
Regular unleaded gas now costs 93 to 95 cents a gallon at local stations, up 5 to 10 cents from a week ago.
Amoco to acquire Sing Companies
July 16, 1988 - Sing Oil Company
By Dorothy Clifford Democrat staff writer
Oil-giant Amoco has agreed to acquire the Sing Companies of Thomasville, Ga., Amoco's Atlanta office announced Tuesday. Sing has 54 convenience-store gasoline outlets in five Southeastern states. The acquisition is expected to be completed in early spring, according to the Amoco release. "It's like losing a family member," said Bradfordville Sing Store manager Pete Cuddy of the purchase. Cuddy has been employed by the privately owned family business almost 18 years. Lewis Hall Singletary, who founded the Sing business in 1934, was not available for comment Tuesday. He opened the first Sing station in his native Pelham, Ga., but later transferred the main offices to Thomasville. No terms were disclosed, nor was the price revealed in the Amoco announcement. "Amoco is making the acquisition because the Sing Companies, including Sing Oil enhance Amoco's presence in markets Amoco considers strategic," said John G. Kleine, Amoco's Atlanta district marketing manager. According to Amoco, Sing Oil sells more than 70 million gallons of petroleum products annually, primarily gasoline. Sing Oil convenience stores have ancillary sales of $30 million annually. The majority of Sing's 54 properties are in Georgia, where there are 30 stores, and Florida, where there are 15. There are seven in Mississippi, one in Alabama and one in Louisiana. More than 200 people are employed in the 12 Tallahassee outlets, according to Sing regional manager Ron Montgomery. "Sing Oil has been family to me," said Cuddy, 38, an employee since 1971. He managed three previous stores before taking over the Bradfordville Sing on Thomasville Road. "I'm apprehensive," added the manager of 16 years." As far as management is concerned, I'm sure there'll be changes." As for the big picture, Tallahassee stock brokers said the purchase of the Sing family business probably will not bring about any significant changes: "It means that Amoco, one of the largest oil companies in the United States, is broadening their base by picking up a small independent company," said A.G. Edwards manager Mark Robinton. "It probably won't change anything but the signs here locally," said Lou Kellenberger, vice president and financial consultant for Shearson Lehman Hutton.
Mideast oil crisis brings reader response
August 20, 1990
Democrat Reader's Page
MARY JACOBS - I join the ranks of my fellow Americans who are completely
disgusted with the current rancorous display by those gluttonous,
profiteering oil companies who have, in the face of the recent Middle
East crisis, raised their gas prices sky-high in anticipation of higher
oil prices from suppliers. I urge the citizens of Tallahassee to boycott
the worst of the companies, including Sing Oil, whose lowest prices for
unleaded regular are hovering around $1.16 per gallon, and Exxon,
Texaco and Shell as well. Lastly, Tallahassee and all of Florida should
be aware that if this crisis continues over an extended period of time,
already-surfacing rumblings in the state, and the nation will certainly
become a rallying cry for the advocation and implementation of greater
offshore oil drilling, currently temporarily banned around most of
Florida's coast. Whatever the outcome in the Middle East, Florida needs
to avert reactionism, maintain a long-term perspective, and realize that
our valuable resources still need our protection. The focus on the
current state of our environment these last couple of years has helped
all of us to see how important it is that we clean up and maintain
better stewardship of our world. I encourage everyone to consider the
current crisis situation and accept that the time has come to pursue
other energy alternatives, specifically solar energy. Write to your
representatives and demand that they pursue better tax breaks for those
utilizing solar energy conservation measures.
Amoco completes buyout of Sing stores
November 1, 1990 - Sing Oil Company
Amoco Oil Co. has completed acquisition of 54 Sing Oil convenience store gasoline outlets. Fifteen of the acquired stores are in Florida, 30 in Georgia, seven in Mississippi and one each in Alabama and Louisiana. Amoco plans to keep Sing's 675 employees, including the 20 employees at the company's home office in Thomasville, Ga. Sing Oil sells more than 60 million gallons of petroleum products, with annual sales of $30 million.
Merger may bring jobs to Thomasville
February 21, 1991
THOMASVILLE, Ga. - A plan by Amoco Oil Co. to consolidate its South Georgia and South Florida finance and administrative offices may mean some new jobs for Thomasville, oil company executives have announced. Amoco spokesman Richard Judy said the company will ask 25 employees in its Fort Lauderdale office to relocate to Amoco's Thomasville office and will hire replacements for those who won't make the move. Judy said the company will now do all of the financial and administration functions for its Sing Oil subsidiary and for company-owned Amoco gas stations in the eastern U.S. out of the Thomasville office. The move is effective April 1. The Fort Lauderdale office will still handle other operations for the eastern company-owned stations, Judy said.
Here are a few more reasons to get pumped up at Sing (Ad)
July 18, 1991
Amoco-Sing Back-to-school Sale (Ad)
July 28, 1996 (Page 2)
Join McDonald's & Amoco for a Grand Opening (Ad)
November 8, 1996
Bradfordville: Rural outpost or urban crossroad?
October 13, 1997 - Bradfordville (picture)
Happy Lotto Days (Amoco-Sing Ad)
December 31, 1997
BP buying Amoco for $48 billion
August 12, 1998
by Cliff Edwards The Associated Press
British Petroleum PLC is buying Amoco Corp., the fifth-largest U.S. oil company, for $48 billion in stock in what would be the largest industrial merger in history. About 6,000 jobs would be shed. The combined company would be called BP Amoco PLC, but in the United States, BP gasoline stations would be renamed Amoco. The deal, announced Tuesday, would rank as the fifth largest ever and surpass the $40.5 billion purchase of Chrysler Corp. by Germany's Daimler Benz announced in May as the biggest industrial marriage. It would be the largest acquisition of an American corporation by a foreign concern. BP chief executive Sir John Browne told a news conference in London that the combined company would slash 6,000 jobs, with most of the cuts coming from operations in Cleveland and Houston. Later, the head of BP'S North American operations announced it would shutter its Cleveland headquarters, eliminating 650 jobs there and 350 jobs elsewhere in the Cleveland area. Steve Percy, chairman and chief executive of BP America, said the cuts would be made by the middle of next year. "It's something we really regret" he said. Browne would head the new group. Its board would be co-chaired by BP chairman Peter Sutherland and Amoco chairman. Larry Fuller. Amoco is already the biggest producer of natural gas in North America and combined with British Petroleum's production in Alaska the company would be the biggest producer of oil and gas in the United States. BP is already the world's third largest oil company and the deal would make it a bigger rival to No. 1 Royal Dutch Shell and Exxon Corp., the world's second biggest oil company. "The potential for cost-cutting and improving operating efficiencies are enormous," said analyst Fadel Gheit at Fahnestock & Co. "There will be no weakness in the new company, which will have the top two international players looking over their shoulders." Based on last year's numbers, the new BP Amoco would have annual revenues of $108 billion. Amoco's office in Chicago would be headquarters for the group's North .American refining, marketing and transportation business and its worldwide chemicals business. The BP Amoco group would have combined oil and gas reserves equivalent to about 14.8 billion barrels, and daily production of some 3 million barrels. The companies said cost savings from the deal would add $2 billion to annual profits by the end of 2000. Investors pushed BP and Amoco shares higher in response to the deal.
Chaos at the gas pumps
September 3, 1998
Adriane Grant
Around 5 p.m. at the Sing-Amoco at 205 N. Magnolia Drive, cars were
lined up three-deep. Clerks pleaded for patience as the eight pumps
"went haywire." The pumps stopped taking credit cards, forcing customers
who usually pay at the pump to wait in long lines inside behind people
buying junk food, water, cigarettes, beer and Lottery tickets. The pumps
also would shut off automatically before "customers had finished
filling up including those who had prepaid with cash. "This place,"
said one clerk, "has gone crazy."
Sing customers enjoy her smile
February 25, 1999 - Tallahassee #6 (Picture)
By Kristy Kelley DEMOCRAT WRITER
For the past 21 years, morning customers the Killearn Amoco Sing store who come in bleary-eyed and sleepy have been greeted by the kind, smiling face of Doris Cotton. Cotton, 86, works as a clerk Monday through Thursday. "Every morning when you come in, she calls you by name and always has a smile on her face," said Danny Burnett, a frequent customer who is grateful for the daily dose of kindness. To Cotton, it's just something that comes with the job. "I've always worked with people and customers are so nice." Cotton takes pride in her job and in trying to make people feel special. When she sees people at the Killearn store who haven't been around for a while, she mentions it to them. "I hope it makes them feel good," she said. "I'm always happy to see them." "She's a wonderful lady," said Jim Hawkins, who has lived across the street from the Amoco store since 1970. Cotton has earned the respect of both customers and fellow employees, said Heather McKeehan, who has worked mornings with her for a year. "She's a sweet lady," said McKeehan, "but she's got a lot of spunk. She'll let you know when you aren't doing something." It all comes from experience. Cotton has spent more than 70 years of her life working in retail sales. "It seems like I've always had a job with neighbors and where the same people come in over and over, and that's nice, because I like working," she said. Her first job was at Kresge's, a variety store in her hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Since then, she has held several retail jobs. When Cotton's husband, Eugene, retired in the late 70s, the couple moved to Tallahassee to be close to their daughter, Carole Anderson, and her family. Cotton now lives with her daughter. In fact, there are four generations of Cotton women in the household. Both her granddaughter Valerie and great-granddaughter Ashley live there as well. Two other grandchildren and two great-grandchildren live in Sarasota. When Cotton isn't working, she enjoys doing yard work, reading, and solving daily crossword puzzles. She also attends Faith Presbyterian Church. Although Cotton recently had to reduce the number of hours she works, retirement isn't in the picture. When the time arrives, however, she already knows what she'll do to keep busy. "If I ever retire, the way people use sunflower seeds, I'm going to grow and sell sunflower seeds," she said.
Tallahassee Sing Gas Stations Turning Out, Circle K Rolling In
June 24, 1999 - Tallahassee Sing Stores
By John Paige Tallahassee Democrat
The song to sing is "So Long, Farewell.'' All 16 Sing gas stations in Tallahassee over the next few days will become Circle Ks, as they and 121 other Amoco-owned gas stations across the country are bought by Tosco Corp.
For customers, the ownership change means a different brand of gas - 76 instead of Amoco - and a different line of soft drink cups - Sing's Survivors' cup will be replaced by Circle K's ThurstBuster Lizards.
"It will be the best thing to ever happen to Tallahassee. Well, sort of,'' said Tosco spokesman Jefferson Allen on Wednesday from the corporate headquarters in Stamford, Conn.
One thing won't change right away, however. Allen said Circle K will continue to accept Amoco credit cards, to give customers a chance to apply for 76 gas cards.
The Federal Trade Commission ordered Amoco to sell the stores in March, as British Petroleum and Amoco merged to form the world's third-largest oil company, after Royal Dutch/Shell and Exxon. BP Amoco spokesman Richard Judy said the FTC is expected to approve the sale within days.
Most of the 137 stores that Tosco is buying are in markets that already have Circle K stations. Tallahassee is Circle K's first venture into the Florida Panhandle, Allen said, though it already has some 400 stores elsewhere in the state.
Don't be confused — you can still use your BP, Amoco cards
July 7, 1999
By Gerald Ensley DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
You say someone told you that your BP and Amoco gas credit cards were no good anymore because those companies were going out of business? Relax it was Just a misunderstanding. Sixteen Amoco stations in Tallahassee are being eliminated as part of the merger last year of Amoco and BP: They've been bought by Tosco Corp., which is converting them to "76" brand gas. But Tallahassee will continue to have BP stations, and there will continue to be Amoco and BP stations around the nation all accepting their brand's credit card until the merged company begets a new name and credit card. Any suggestions otherwise came last week from "greeters" at Tallahassee's 16 Tosco stores. The temporary workers were hired to solicit applications for 76-brand gas credit cards and explain the Tallahassee changeover to customers. Apparently, some greeters misunderstood Tosco's takeover was limited to Amoco stations in Tallahassee and six other Southeast cities. Thus, some greeters underlined their sales pitch with the assertion that BP and Amoco were going out of business causing concern among local BP retailers and Amoco officials. The greeters are temporary employees of a marketing company hired by Tosco. Last week, Tosco officials said they had informed the marketing company to meet with all the greeters and make sure they understood the correct information. "There may have been some problems with what the greeters were saying," said Julie Igo, a Tosco spokeswoman. "But we're going to make sure the troops have the right information from now on. "It's tough when you have a lot of (temporary employees). But it certainly was not our intent to mislead or misinform anyone." One greeter, Robert Faircloth, who worked the station at Bannerman and Thomasville roads, admitted he told 150-200 people BP and Amoco were going out of business before discovering the truth. "I felt bad about that," Faircloth said. To comply with federal monopoly statutes, the merged Amoco-BP company was required by the Federal Trade Commission to divest itself of one brand or the other in any market In which the two brands accounted for 35 percent or more of gas sales. In such markets, the merged company was required to sell its leading brand. In Tallahassee, the 16 Amoco stations sold more gas than the 13 BP stations. When the merger is complete later this year, BP and Amoco stations nationwide will get a new name and customers will receive new credit cards good at all the stations in the merged chain. Currently, despite the merger last fall, BP and Amoco stations do not accept each other's credit cards. Tosco, which owns 2,300 76-brand gas stations nationwide, recently bought 110 Amoco stations from BP-Amoco and is converting all of them to the 76 brand. At each station it "re-brands," Tosco will accept Amoco cards for 30 days and employ greeters to explain the change and solicit 76-brand credit card applications.
Circle K ends link with 76
January 14, 2006 - Former Tallahassee Sing Stores
By Gerald Ensley DEMOCRAT SENIOR WRITER
There's changes afoot at the Circle K. The chain of convenience stores is re-branding the gas it sells at 16 Tallahassee stations, trading its longtime 76 brand for the independent Circle K brand. The 76 signs at the stores have been covered and new signs for Circle K gas should be in place within two weeks. The change allows the chain to buy gas from any supplier, rather than buying only from 76 gas distributors. Most of the chain's 340 stores in Florida and 2,200 stores nationwide are already branded as Circle K gas. "Tallahassee, like a lot of other markets, had supply issues related to hurricanes and storms over the past couple of years," said Mike Struble, Circle K's marketing director for the Gulf Coast Region. "By rebranding, we'll still provide the same quality gas. But if there are any problem's with supply, this allows us other options." Struble said the change in branding wouldn't affect gas prices at Circle K. He said Circle K would accept all the credit cards it currently does, except 76 credit cards. Struble said 76 credit-card sales accounted for less than 1 per-cent of gas sales in Tallahassee. Struble said a few Circle K stores in Tallahassee are temporarily shut down, as new equipment is installed to meet a Florida law that requires double-walled gas tanks and fuel lines at all gas stations by 2009. Those stores should be operating again within weeks. Last year, the chain began cashing paychecks at all its stores: Circle K charges 1 percent for the service, and customers receive their money in a debit card that can be used at ATMs, Circle K or any retail store. In addition, all Tallahassee Circle K stores will be redesigned over the next year. The new look will resemble the Circle K store at 109 S. Copeland St., across from Florida State University. That store, which does not sell gas, features a colorful interior, a wider array of food offerings and a walk-in beer cooler.
Comments
Post a Comment