T P STORY Continued from Page 1 iS Dunsmuir, owner of Dunsmuir ;: Super Service in Victoria, is one of -. the last of what he believes is a dying breed. As full-service gas sta- tions move inexorably along the road to extinction, Dunsmuir and a ® handful of others in Victoria cling to the old-fashioned notion that the only good service is full service. In fact, the majority of Greater Victoria’s gas stations are still clas- sified as full service, but full service in 1990 is not quite the same as full service in 1960 or 70. Today it often means little more than having your gas pumped and your windows washed. But when Dunsmuir says full ser- vice, he’s not kidding. The station’s 22 employees will do just about everything for your car, including mechanical repairs, wash and wax, window cleaning, oil and tire main- tenance and interior vacuuming. = Obyes, they also pump gas. * The activity level around the sta- tion says plenty about the estab- lishment’s reputation: the place is always busy, and the attendants are hopping — literally — just as Dunsmuir demands. “Nobody ever walks to a car. You run to a car,” he says, glancing at the pumps. “You walk to a car, you keep on walking home.” “We have tried to create a one- stop shop. The people, they just eat it up. They love it to death. They can’t believe it.” Indeed, Dunsmuir is satisfied he’s giving the customers what they want, and the guest book inside the station backs him up — in spades. “Tm impressed; hayen’t seen this type of service for a long time,” writes a Victoria motorist. Out-of-towners also lap it up. From Toronto: “The best service station I've ever visited.” From Ed- | monton: “Super to see excellence | again.” And from Niagara Falls: “Unbelievable service!” But what the customers want and what they can expect during the next few years may not have much in common. According to the December edi- tion of Automotive Retailer magazine, Shell became the first major Canadian oil company to _. offer self-serve gas when it estab- Slished a station in 1970 in Van- couver. The experiment, prompted _. by consumer demand for cheaper gas and more-convenient service, was obviously a success. The trend today is toward what John Ansell, marketing manager for Pay Less Gas, calls “con- venience centres.” Pay Less operates about 32 stations in Greater Victoria, and each one of- DUNSMUIR SHELL OWNER Bob Dunsmuir (top photo) stands in front of his full- service gas pumps as employees run to the cash register. The move towards self service (bottom left ) is well established. Many stations still offer service at the pumps if you are willing to pay (bottom right). fers customers the option of self- serve or full-serve fill-ups — both at the same price. But while Pay Less stations also have car washes, con- venience stores, laundromats and will soon have bake shops, they don’t offer any type of mechanical repairs. Ansell says a big part of the reason is cost. The overhead re- quired for a mechanical shop is “tremendous,” he says, and besides, most people are in the habit of taking their vehicles back to the dealer for service. FULL SERVICE STATIONS _ VANISHING RAPIDLY “The days of having amechanic on duty at a service centre are num- bered,” Ansell says. Bob Dunsmuir agrees, although with five mechanics (one of whom has been with the station for close to two decades) and a flourishing business, he doesn’t expect to go under. Still, Dunsmuir acknowledges that full-service, neighborhood gas stations are on a collision course with oblivion. And like Ansell, he says the reason is simple economics. Dunsmuir says it costs plenty to run his type of service station. Rent and utilities alone cost him about $100,000 per year. On top of that he has to pay wages to 22 people and spend a small fortune on equip- ment. Self-serve stations that offer food instead of repairs don’t have such a crippling overhead. “It costs a lot to stay in business,” Dunsmuir says. For some, “a lot” is simply too much, even if rising costs are passed on to the customer. Dunsmuir, who’s been in business for 29 years — and at his Yates Street location since the early 1970s — says he has watched many other stations disappear from the local landscape. At one time the corner of Fort Street and Oak Bay Avenue had three service stations on it, he says. Now it has none. For his part, Ansell says the demise of the complete service sta- tion began more than a decade ago, and now “it’s happening everywhere.” As stations vanish or convert to self-serve gas bars, the consumer is left with a diminishing list of automobile service options. Dunsmuir says in five or six years his station will be a closed practice —thatis, he won't be able to accept any new customers. Already he’s routinely booked a week in ad- vance. “Ttll just come a time when you sit and wait until you can get your vehicle into a shop to get it fixed,” he says. One thing is clear, however: Dunsmuir is not about to abandon his faithful customers. His busi- ness is secure and profitable and as far as he’s concerned, it has all been worthwhile. “I cant think of anything that could have given me more pleasure in life. I wouldn’t trade it for any- thing,” he says. “Because we've got the guts and the knowledge, we're able to make a living at it. Thirty years later we're still here, all because of one simple little word: service.”