The Townsville Bulletin reports on the January 2021 announcement of NightOwl/Puma Hervey Range Road.

Puma and NightOwl are teaming up as a new dual convenience store and petrol station offering as Townsville’s service station boom shows no signs of slowing. The site on Hervey Range Road at Thuringowa Central will provide 32 hoses of unleaded, premium unleaded and diesel fuel, attached to a five-aisle NightOwl store. The hub is another sign that convenience store and fuel outlet combinations are becoming increasingly difficult to separate, with the RACQ effectively classing them as the same industry.

Analysis suggests fuel retailer profits are about two-thirds convenience products and one-third fuel.

A spokeswoman for NightOwl said the company saw fuel and convenience as a “synergistically compatible business amalgamation”, with plans to open 25 fuel retail sites over the next two years. “One offering assists the other when it comes to convenience,” she said. “Everyone who drives a car must eventually pull into a service station, therefore it is very convenient that the store also solves the top-up-shop needs of the passengers. Consumers are realising that convenience stores provide them with more flexible shopping hours, time saving convenience and an opportunity to avoid the crowds, an attribute that has become important for many due to the pandemic.”

The spokeswoman said the site was not in competition with supermarkets, which continue to hold the advantage of bulk buying power and store range, but provided a different option. The new Townsville site will also take advantage of the region’s more competitive market, with analysis showing competition to be low to medium for fuel within a 5km radius of the new site. Construction is expected to be completed in mid to late May this year.