Tag: mirastargas

The demolition of the Mirastar gas station, in the parking lot of the Douglas County Wal*Mart, is continuing this week. I still don't know why they have to tear it down; such a waste.

They're still working on dismantling the old Mirastar gas station in the Douglas Wal*Mart parking lot. Here are some photos of the progress and the carnage.

Work crews were on site Monday at the Mirastar gas station, in the parking lot of the Douglas County Wal*Mart. This gas station closed in August, part of a nation-wide shutdown of Mirastar locations, and has sat empty and roped off ever since. Now a crew has started dismantling the structure. They removed the gas pumps and set them aside, presumably to be trucked away to locations unknown, and they were also working on the roof, tearing down the decorative apron that surrounded the canopy.

I'm not sure what they're up to, if this is the beginning of a full-scale demolition of the gas station, or if Tesoro just wants to strip the property and reclaim some of the valuable items before they sell it. Because this is a good location for a gas station. Thousands of cars pass by it every day, on their way to Wal*Mart or Trader Joe's, or in the turn lane to get to Best buy and Old Navy and all that. I've had at least five or six occasions in the last few months where I wished it was open, usually when I was in town late and the Costco gas nearby, where I usually fill up, was closed. This Mirastar always had comparably low prices, but didn't charge debit fees like Arco does, or require membership like Costco. So I can see a low-price gas station doing very well here, and will be surprised if the whole place is just leveled, and not bought out by someone else.

I drove by the Mirastar gas station in the parking lot of the South Carson (Douglas County) Wal*Mart, and noticed that the prices were missing from the sign. On closer look, the pumps were roped off with yellow caution tape and the pump heads were wrapped up. When we looked even closer, we saw this sign posted on the pumps.

Dear Valued Customer

Effective August 15, 2008 this Mirastar gas station will be permanently closed.

Thanks for your business.

There are no other indications of why the station shut down, but a search online shows that a similar station in Pittsburgh has also closed. The story goes on to say that Tesoro, the parent company of Mirastar, is closing 42 of the 76 stations that they operate in Wal*Mart parking lots nationwide. The only reason given by Tesoro was that it was “a business decision.” So it sounds like a similar situation to the Mervyn's that is in the process of closing. A nationwide company needs to tighten the belt by closing "underperforming" stores, and Carson City gets the shaft end again.

Too bad, because that Mirastar station was one you could always count on for low prices. It was usually right there in the running with Costco and Arco for the lowest price in town, and it was also the only one of those three that accepted credit cards as well as debit. Plus it was very nearly the last gas station you hit on the way out of town; only Chevron and the Silver City RV Park sell gas between there and Minden, and their prices are usually considerably higher.

So now, the real question is, what will become of this facility? Will this gas station remain abandoned, or will some other company swoop in to resume operations and fill the gap it's left behind? I can't see it being torn down, because that would require pulling out the underground tanks, and there is so much environmental red tape involved with that that it would be cheaper just to leave the station boarded up.