BUXTON, Maine — A gas station in Buxton is charging less than $4 for a gallon of gas.
Compared with the state’s average of $4.77, buying gas for $3.99 yields considerable savings.
With the price of everything up, Mainers are pinching pennies.
The secret’s out around town that Panda Market on Parker Farm Road has low prices.
“We look for the sales,” Buxton resident Roger Charlton said.“It’s always been cheap here.”
It hasn’t been this low for quite some time.
“Somebody put it on Facebook, so I said, ‘Well I got to go get some of that,’” Buxton resident Kelly Ellis said.
The average cost in Maine for a gallon of gas topped off at $5.09 in mid-June according to GasBuddy.
In Maine and nationally, that’s changed over the last few weeks.
“Prices are falling out of concern that oil consumption and demand will go down,” GasBuddy Head of Petroleum Analysis Patrick De Haan said. “At the same time, supply is recovering.”
The way things are headed, De Haan believes prices could drop anywhere from $0.25-$0.50 a gallon on average in the next few weeks.
“There certainly could be a rising number of stations in the country that could fall under the $4 a gallon mark in the weeks ahead,” De Haan said.
“It really depends on the market,” Rachele Zheng, whose family owns Panda Market, said.
The family that owns Panda Market says they only mark up the gasoline they get by about $0.10-$0.15.
For them, this is how they do business.
“We try to keep it low,” Zheng said. “Just mutual benefit. So customers come inside and get their snacks, Asian snacks, food, drinks, beer.”
For drivers like Sherry Dobson, it’s a huge relief.
“Every little bit helps, and so I’m grateful to see it at this price,” Dobson said.
