Fuel duel: Two gas stations in the Logan Neighborhood battle over who can offer the cheapest gas for one hectic night

It wasn’t a time warp.

If you saw – or were lucky enough to buy – gas for just 59 cents a gallon Wednesday night in Spokane’s Logan Neighborhood, the rock-bottom prices were just a friendly holiday competition between neighboring gas stations.

At Hamilton Market at Hamilton Street and Baldwin Avenue, gas prices reached a low of 59 cents per gallon and hovered in that range for half an hour, right around 6 p.m. About an hour before, prices at both Hamilton Market and the Mobil kitty-corner from the market rested at 99 cents.

Rahul Singh, the manager at Hamilton Market, said some customers told him they waited in line for three hours after he kicked off the friendly competition. Traffic jams cascaded in all directions around the Logan Neighborhood, stretching as far back as the nearest freeway exit. Going north and south on Hamilton, even the alleys surrounding the two gas stations were chock full of mostly patient drivers exuberant about cheap gas.

“When the news covered it and people saw it on Facebook, the whole of Spokane rushed in,” Singh said. “We didn’t expect it. We thought only our (local) customers would come and they’d be happy.”

Around 8 p.m. Wednesday, Singh said they raised their prices back to a more normal $3.65.

The gas wars kicked off around 8 a.m., and prices continued to drop in increments over the course of 12 hours. Singh estimates they sold around 5,800 gallons and lost at least “a couple grand” in profit.

Across the street at the Mobil, owners Joey Bains and Navi Singh , who has no relation to the Singh at Hamilton Market, said they sold around 11,000 gallons and lost $25,000 to $30,000.

Bains and Navi Singh are cousins who own several gas stations and liquor stores in the Spokane region. Wednesday was not only the first time the cousins have gone tit-for-tat with another gas station; it was also their first day owning and operating that specific Mobil in the Logan neighborhood.

The gas station was a Nom Nom before Navi Singh and Bains transformed it into a Mobil. They said cars were guzzling so many gallons of gas that they had to call in a truck to bring them even more fuel.

“At the end of the day, we look at it like a giving-back day,” Bains said. “We lost $25,000, but it’s like, ‘Hey, the community gives us so much.’ Giving back to them, it’s not a big deal.”

To many folks, losing $25,000 in a single day is a big deal. But the pair said they aren’t done giving back to the community.

They’re planning a grand opening for their new Mobil location later this month, during which they plan to hand out free food, some “swag,” as in T-shirts, and maybe even lower their gas prices again. But it probably won’t go all the way back down to 58 cents . As for another gas price war, Bains said “Never say never.”

Rahul Singh, the manager at Hamilton Market, said the owner is planning to lower their gas prices again, but probably not for another year. And next time, he said they’re going to post online in advance to hopefully mitigate some of the chaos and traffic jams.

Wrapped in a “cocoon of tunes,” Recorded Memories owner Richard Terzieff said he saw and heard some mayhem from his storefront, but he didn’t think any of it created an unsafe environment.

“It was great for people, but they were having a lot of fun,” Terzieff said. “You had dogs hanging out windows. You had people honking a lot. And it was pretty comical.”

He believed most of the honking was all in good fun. He didn’t hear or see anyone getting carted off by police or too many people acting unruly. But he said the alleyways and roads, in all directions, were lined with vehicles.

Terzieff sent a text to his sister at 3:39 p.m. letting her know that gas at the station next to him was $1.97 and that TV news crews were there. Upon hearing the news, she hopped in her own vehicle and drove over for a fill-up.

The 57-year-old music store owner has been in the Logan Neighborhood since buying the store in 1990. He’s never seen gas prices there that low and said the last time gas was that low, he was “mowing lawns, going door-to-door and working that way.” He still had a couple years left until he could get his license, too .

“I looked at it as helping people with spreading some holiday cheer,” he said.

While it may be at least another year, if ever, until the two gas stations engage in another price war, the opportunity to give back to the community was a highlight for all – except for those who just wanted to go home for the night.

“We decided just to give back to the community,” Rahul Singh said. “Maybe it was the holiday season. But it wasn’t planned.”