HIS IDEA of selling no-name gasoline at cut
prices is working well at his businesses in
Vancouver, Surrey and Richmond. But when
North Vancouver resident John Houghton
decided to open up on his home turf he
found he'd never had such a fight on his
hands.

In the four weeks he

cents 4 htre to 40.9. And

has operated his Vinoco each Ume, gas stations
independent gas retail throughout North Van
outlet at the Marine have followed the lead
Drive and  Bewicke and matched him.

Avenue intersection he’s Houghton manages to
dropped the price of undercut gas stations in
regular gas from 48.5 other parts of Greater

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draperies
by S. Laursen

Custom Oraperles Bedspreads
} Venetian Vertical and Wooden Blinds

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All blinds 20% off list
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A TT

long he can afford to do so,

SETTING THE PACE for prices all over North Vancouver but wondering just how
Vinoco station owner John Houghton says he can’t

NEWS photo Terry Peters

hang out keeping gas prices down while all the other service stations follow him
unless customers start supporting the idea quickly.

Price cuts a fight for survival

By CHRIS LLOYD

Vancouver by buying his gas
from whoever is selling it at
the lowest price at the time,
rather than sticking with one
oil company.

He got the idea while he
was unemployed ai few

,

| Expires June 1

months ago and bought a
pack of no-name cigarettes.
He thought: if it works with
cigarettes, why not with gas?
And he found it did.

His Vinoco stations are
such small businesses that he
says nobody particularly
bothers about him in other

°

two dollars]

* with GAS FILL-UP only
* limit 1 per fill up.

SUPER SAVE GAS |

1350 MARINE DR. N.V. ONLY
350 LOW LEVEL RD N.V..ONLY

— on i oh oP oF oe am ake ak nh a a ate me ei ie ale mmm Gi ah hb ae Gm om wm am cme a am oa ome ome ae

areas.

But in North Van the
competition is so fierce
that he says other gas
stations would prefer to
lose thousands of dollars
each month in the hope of
putting him out of

CONTINUED ON PAGE A4

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A3 - Wednesday, May 11, 1983 - North Shore News

Fashion
moods
PAGE C4

Baseball
round-up
PAGE B3

going on
PAGE C10

Budding
ballerinas
PAGE C1

Automotive 7
Businesa BO

Claasitied A116
Community ala
t ntertainmen cr
Faehion (4
§ ood ca
Matibos Al
Seporte 6
Hayden Stewart ca
Temvet C6
TV Time Cat

What a Going On C8