An Elk Grove gas station that went up in flames last year reopened Saturday to eager customers.
“We’re very happy to be open again,” Shell Rapid Lube owner Dale Miles said. “It’s been a long, long haul with a horrendous amount of hurdles to get through.”
By Monday morning, pumps at the Shell Rapid Lube, 8901 Elk Grove Blvd., were already full of customers, according to automotive shop manager Mark Hansen.
“We’re just super excited,” Hansen said. “We’ve had so many regular customers coming in the last week or so while we were getting ready saying, ‘We’re so happy to see you’ and ‘The store looks great.’
“We’ve had great support.”
Gas prices were kept low – between $3.49 and $3.69 a gallon – for the opening. The Shell station is also selling diesel fuel for the first time at $3.49 a gallon.
A fire engulfed the gas station’s attached auto body shop in March 2011 after fuel ignited inside a vehicle that employees were working on.
The fire caused major damages, but no one was injured.
Miles has owned the Shell gas station for 23 years, along with two other Shell stations in the area.
