What is Denver’s most expensive gas station to do when gas prices across the metro area skyrocket?

Well, increase it some more.

Motorists across metro Denver and the country saw a sharp increase in gas prices last month. Records from GasBuddy show that the average price of a gallon of gas in Denver was about $2.47 on Feb. 24, just before the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran. By the end of March, gas reached about $3.90 on average, representing a rise of about 60% over about a month’s time.

The record, however, remained at $4.92 for regular gas and $5.537 for diesel. Both were recorded in June 2022.

While prices briefly began to settle back down, with an average in Denver being just under $3.70 as of last week, they are back up to the $3.90 average as of Tuesday.

One station, which has seemingly no mind for the current market, has kept prices high for years and is possibly the most expensive in metro Denver.

At the intersection of East Speer Boulevard and Fourth Avenue in an in-between area near Denver’s Capitol Hill and Washington Park neighborhoods sits a Conoco gas station and convenience store. Inside, the convenience store looks like any other — a few coolers filled with drinks, shelves with snacks, cigarettes and lotto cards behind the counter.

For the past few years, prices have hovered around the $4 mark, though with the recent hike in gas prices the station upped its prices by about half a buck.

Google reviews of the station showed an average of 2.0 from 93 reviews, most of which gave one star. Most reviewers lamented the high price, with many noting the station is consistently about a dollar more per gallon than other stores in the area.

As of Tuesday, the price for a gallon of gas at the station is $4.49 for regular, $4.99 for plus and $5.49 for premium. The closest station, a 7-Eleven on Broadway and Third, charges $3.99, $4.49 and $4.79, respectively. Once prices rose across the metro, the station jumped from its usual price of $3.99 to the current price.

Even as average prices declined then rose again, this Conoco station has stayed consistent at $4.49.

So, how does a station with such high prices stay in business?

Skyler McKinley, a spokesperson for AAA, said most gas stations don’t make much money on gas, and instead rely on the convenience store to turn a profit. McKinley said convenience stores will mark up prices on things like candy and soda, selling them for a higher price than what you may see at a supermarket.

Many gas companies simply provide the fuel for the stations and have no stake in the convenience store, which is why oftentimes the pumps at a gas station will be a different brand than the convenience store, McKinley said. At most, the owners of the stations only make about a 5% to 10% margin on gas sales.

As for the Conoco’s gas prices, McKinley theorized the high price may be an example of capitalizing on a low supply of stations along Speer Boulevard. While there are a few stations within about a mile radius of the station, it is the only one located directly on Speer, a major roadway in Denver, for several miles.

“My sense is that’s one of the most significant traffic corridors with a gas station right there,” McKinley said. “And you know, if you live in the area, you know not to get gas there. But if you don’t, if you’re just driving through Denver, you see it and you’re like, ‘Oh, this must be the only option’.”

Patrons of the gas station interviewed by The Denver Gazette echoed McKinley’s points. Several who stopped only did so to buy snacks and passed on getting gas, while the few who did said they were in danger of running empty on gas and the station was a convenient place to stop.

Margo Phillip, who she stopped to get gas because she was almost out, noted that the station was located on the right side of the road, making it easy for her to pull off of Speer and stop.

She said she only noticed the price at the station as she was already pulling into a pump, and went ahead with filling up because she was already there. She chuckled when looking at the price during her interview with The Denver Gazette.

“Four-fifty is really expensive,” she said.

Phillip ended up spending about $60 to fill up her tank.

Larry Hamilton also cited convenience, a low tank and the fact there was not another station along his route. Hamilton was on his way to Brighton and said he was planning on taking Speer to Interstate 25, then I-76. 

He said the Conoco was the only station that was directly along his route that he could stop at for gas before getting on the highway.

David Riggs said he, too, was unaware of the increase in gas prices when asked about his reason for stopping despite the high prices. He said he was nearly empty with only a couple of miles left in his tank when he stopped and didn’t have the opportunity to look for another station.

He filled up his tank with premium, spending about $100.

A look at Google Street View shows prices have been consistently high at this station for years.

For the past few years, the price per gallon at the station has hovered at around the $4 mark — similar to what Metro Denver saw when prices jumped last month. A snapshot from Oct. 2021 shows a price of $3.97, though it was about 40 cents cheaper in May 2021 and was down just under $3 in Nov. 2020, according to Street View.

Prices have fluctuated throughout the years. Prior to that November 2020 dip, prices were at about the $3.39 mark. The price keeps going down the further back you look, hitting $2.79 in 2017 and 2016, though August 2015 saw a price of $3.27, up from a price of $2.69 in April 2015.

Most of the rest of the Street View snapshots show prices above $3.49 a gallon, with the exception of the earliest available picture from August 2007 at a modest $3.09. An October 2008 snapshot shows a price of $3.99, staying consistent with what prices have been at the station over the past few years. 

Historical gas price data shows the station, since 2008, has consistently been about $1 to $1.50 more expensive than the average price of gas in Colorado.

The owner of the station did not respond to a request for comment for this story.