Gas station owners say boycotting BP will do a lot more to hurt the little guy than the oil giant.
As the massive oil spill off the Gulf Coast enters its 10th week, calls for shunning the company continue to grow, fueled in part by celebrity endorsements from the likes of Lady Gaga and Korn, as well as social media sites. The Boycott BP Facebook page has more than 700,000 fans.
BP, however, owns only a fraction of the 11,000 stores that bear its logo.
Local businessmen and women own most of the stores. Their primary connection to the oil company is the green-and-white sign outside and a contract to buy gasoline products.
Pat Brown and her husband, Ronald, own the River Run Superette stores in Hickory and Granite Falls.
Fewer fill-ups mean fewer inside sales at the convenience stores, said Brown. "The retailer is stuck in the middle," she said.
Gas stations make most of their money on chips, soft drinks and other retail sales. Sometimes, they make as little as a penny per gallon on the gasoline, according to Brown.
Boycotting a local business with more connection to the community than to the British oil giant BP doesn't sit well with Danny Hearn, president of the Catawba County Chamber of Commerce.
"The locally owned franchise stores have nothing to do with what's going on in the Gulf," Hearn said. "You are penalizing a local entrepreneur for something he has no control over."
That's not sending a message, he said. That's hurting a local business that provides local jobs and contributes to the local tax base.
But some die-hard BP detractors want to penalize customers, too.
A woman pumping gas at a River Run Superette got a nasty earful from a passerby who used profanity when he told her she shouldn't be buying BP, Brown said.
Convenience can trump idealism over the oil spill, in some locations.
The Kountry Korner in Vale is seven miles from any other gas station. Owner Kuyer Patel says the Gulf oil spill and the calls for a boycott haven't had any effect on his business.
Associated Press reports contributed to this story.
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