We can file this under my “Fresh Ideas” hashtag. A new(?) idea for old service stations.

Look at that poor pump. Some are old enough that, when gas prices finally rose above a dollar, they had to paint a $1 on it. They never expected prices to go that high. Those of us who are old enough may remember checkbooks where all the checks had a 19__ printed on them because years starting with a 2 were too far in the future to worry about. (My mind digressed as I wondered what we’re using today that will be so obviously outdated soon.)  The checks were easy to replace or write over. The gas pumps are harder to figure out what to do with. Here’s one idea I talked about recently on my podcast with Steve Smolinsky, Intriguing Creativity. Don’t have a name yet. Hmm. Maybe by the time I’m done writing this.

Oh woe, what are we going to do with the old corner gas stations? The ones that were true service stations may be more difficult. EVs are here. Cars require more training for their mechanics than before. Much of those sites’ functionality is outdated and fading. 

I remember working at one of the early self-service stations in 1976. Already, there was no service. Pump it yourself (and save! and then banks automated tellers and supermarkets made us do their job), but don’t expect anyone to check your car’s oil, wash the windshield, or pump up your tires. Service with a smile slid as it shifted to being provided from behind a window that had a slot for passing back cash and change. Credit cards were run through a carbon copy device. $2 bills were in style, for a very short while. We still had the hose that rang a bell whenever a car drove onto the lot. Ding. Ding.

Many have morphed into convenience stores, companies that were inspired by 7-11 and surpassed it, at least in ubiquity.

One that didn’t morph is about four miles from my new old big tiny house (MyTinyExperiment.com). It’s the one with rusted pumps. Like many, it is a corner eye-sore. It is also an opportunity for contemporary photography. What message do you want? Decay and ruin and neglect? Nature creeping through the cracks? Reflections on the history and the people who worked there?

But, it is also a commercial property at the intersection of a rural and soon-to-be less rural area. It is paved. It has a building. It has utilities. It has a story, I’m sure. It also probably has underground gas tanks that may need to be removed, or at least made safe. The pumps could stay or go – at a price. It has potential.

And it is not alone.

(Rhetorically) How many such places have we built around the world? Many are dying because they aren’t needed, or at least didn’t keep up with gas prices. The new one kitty-corner across the street is far fancier, bigger, and even sells liquor. It serves that purpose and more, and yet I think may be destined for a similar fate. But, back to the old, unused one. Finally, I’ll get around to telling you the idea.

(By the way, literary types may moan about this style of writing, but this is a better and cleaned-up example of how my creative side works. You do not want to see the un-cleaned-up example.)

Re-open the place as a community space, for-profit or non-profit, isn’t as important. Clean it up. Make it safe, at least eventually deal with those tanks, and pour the newest technology into it: high-speed internet and caffeinated drinks. Add sugar, as reasonable. Redecorate, of course. As I type this, I wonder if Starbucks has already considered this. If not, who will? 

People are de-urbanizing. Some are becoming modern nomads. I’ve progressively moved farther from Seattle’s metropolis since 1992. For about a decade prior to that, I was a suburbanite because my job was Boeing, not downtown anywhere. Now, I live seven miles outside of a tourist town that has always been undergoing the influx of ex-city folks. As a realtor (now ex-), I worked with a lot of people who wanted to be less crowded. Losing the services of a city has been easier as technology has allowed more remote communication, then shopping, and learning, and working. There are some folks who live out here, but who really live in there, inside their computers. You and I are both here now, just asynchronously. 

These corner stations could fit into the role of supplying some of those extra services, and do so in a way that encourages community, or at least seeing other people in the real world. 

There is more than a spectrum of what these places could be. Starbucks is a good model, though I’d recommend skipping the drive-through. Get out of your car and be a person among people. Maybe put a drive-through coffee kiosk into one of those little booths if there’s enough parking lot for it. (Is that what the service bays could become?) There’s really no need to be specific about how it will be used. Financiers may want details, but people will define the space by the way they use it. Coffeeshop? Co-works? Package pickup site? A quiet place to recharge, or a noisy place where kids can scream? (No, kids. You may not play in the grease pit – but with some work it would be awesome to fill that with bouncy balls – or a koi pond.) The neighborhood will decide.

But there will be work to get done. No surprise. Even without those tanks, renovating a building isn’t trivial. But it is possible. 

The specific site that inspired this idea is across the street from one of my favorite markets, definitely more farmers’ market than supermarket. Down the street is an awesome cidery that has expanded out into a family-friendly event center and foodie destination. A post office is nearby. So is a school. And so is an increasing influx (there’s got to be a better word) of city people spending time in rural areas. (Part of which is in a wildfire as I type. It’s a dynamic place and definitely out in the country against the mountains.) And they all circle a building with dusty windows, weed-cracked concrete, and gas pumps that look more like modern art.

OK. So this is just me playing with an idea. But someone is going to see abandoned service stations as the site for some sort of rebirth. When someone finds an ethical, environmental, and economical way to use one service station, they will have created a template for them to do it again, and for someone else to try, too. 

On the personal finance side, I don’t have the resources or skills to remake such a space. I’ll watch to see if someone else does because, if they do, they have the opportunity to build another billion-dollar business, and I’ll hope I can invest in it.

Change is the only constant. 

These were busy businesses. Now, they are not. Hopefully, they will be again. In the meantime, I also started thinking ahead to what’s happening at the station on the other corner. What will their pumps become? And EV charging? The next generation of batteries may make specialized chargers moot. What will happen to all of those Tesla stations? 

Change is the only constant.

Gotta change with it, and maybe guess right about where it is going.

If you want to hear what Steve thought about the idea, listen to Episode 8 of our podcast, IntriguingCreativity.com .