Back in the day, there was a Gulf station at the corner of the Post Road and Hillspoint. It was a real service station — they sold gas and actually repaired your car.
Cumberland Farms took over. They closed the service bays, and started selling “food.” Okay, it made 7/Eleven look like Morton’s Steakhouse, but it was a decent alternative if you couldn’t make it all the way to Calise’s.
Cumby’s dropped Gulf gas a while ago,in favor of — who knows? It took longer for the sign to get covered up.
Finally today — a loooong time later — the sign came down.
It will be replaced — as alert “06880” reader/intrigued consumer Matt Murray notes — by a new one. It notes 2 prices: the “member” (“SmartPay”) rate, and the cost for those of us not in Cumberland Farms’ exclusive club.
(Photo/Matt Murray)
Will they still sell gas?
Yes. That’s what the new sign is about.
No sure a lit sign, like neon or LED is within the rules.
I’m sort of gonna miss the old one. It at least had a bit of charm, highly doubt this one will at all. Might even look trashy.
Is it just because of the location? There’s def another gas station in town with the LED sign, but their’s isn’t posted on the roadway.
MA has had the Cumberland Club for a long time. Not knowing about this, I pulled right in to capture the great price they were advertising. I was so shocked by the price I saw on the screen, doing double takes and going in to complain to the guy in the mart. Buyers beware!
If memory serves, Cumberland Farms actually owns the Gulf brand, or they did at one point. I believe they bought the brand name, though not the operations, from Chevron many years ago after Chevron acquired Gulf Oil.
Back in the day Franks Gulf was a hangout for Downshifters. Frank built some of the baddest ‘40 Fords around. He died recently in South Florida but I remember him fondly.
I remember it! IT is the station I took Corky’s Corvette to when he was at Fort Dix to be sure there was enough anti freeze. The Ex Downshifters saw that his car was “out and about” when it should have been safely tucked in at home so they stopped to be sure that who ever had the car out was legit. Great gas station in the day and of course the Downshifters were/are legendary for their care and concern for each other.
It make wanna social climb into the SmartPay group.
My Grandfather sold that corner to Gulf Oil in 1954 for $75,000. prior to that it had a farm stand with gardens clear back to Hillandale Rd. If he knew at the time that instead of repairing cars they would be selling food I suspect the sale would not have occurred.
The last operator of the Gulf station defaulted on his lease, amid some controversy , stories were in the Westport News about 16-17 years ago. Cumberland runs a very nice operation and the 10 cent a gallon discount helps.
As far as food goes, it’s a Gas Station…….
I frequent the Cumberland Farms stations in other towns (Fairfield, Monroe, etc) and they are miles ahead of this one in terms of what they offer- pizza, mac & cheese, sandwiches, baked goods, breakfast, etc. And they’re 24hrs, and sell diesel which is important for those of us with diesel vehicles. I hope the Westport location gets remodeled soon. From talking with employees, they do still use Gulf fuel, but rebrand it under their name.