Calgary Co-Op – Kingsland Gas Bar

I’m not a co-​op grocery store shopper (I find it really really expensive) but for booze it will do! They have a great selection of wine at there stores. This location is only liquor, gas, car wash and mini-mart…NOT a grocery store.

I usually fill up at this gas bar because it is closest to where I live, but service is never very good. There is always only one cashier open (3 tills) and 4 staff standing around talking. But after yesterday, I will never stop there again.
I incidentally changed handbags early in the day and the pouch with my bank cards was not in my current handbag. Not realizing this, until I had to pay — I told the fellow at the cashier and asked if I could go pick up my money and I was willing to leave my drivers license and registration whatever he needed, but he said no. I had to walk home –25 minutes. Drive back with the other car. I confronted him about not taking my drivers license and he said this is store policy. It is obvious this gas bar is not committed to customer service and I will never shop there again.

Let’s see… let’s wipe out a Future Shop with a decent parking lot, a financial office and a restaurant, and instead build a gas station. Not just a gas station, but a Co-​Op one complete with kick-​ass Liquor Store. Oh, and while we’re at it, since the space is so large, let’s make it HUGE! Welcome to the Calgary Co-​Op Kingsland Gas Bar and Liquor Store.
Complete with rows upon rows of energy offering goodness to help my motorized Black Beetle of Doom terrorize the roads of Calgary, it’s basically a pretty decent gas station and convenience store x 4. It has one of those all things to all people feel, with groceries, magazines and tons of snacks galore, but also with booze readily close by with a pretty decent selection of beer, wine and liquors. For example, where else in Calgary could I have found Bacon Maple Beer (the beer that smells like maple syrup, has hints of bacon, and the aftertaste of the ashes of a burned down maple tree dumped inside).
Unlike most convenience stores, it’s closed after 10pm, so after that, you have to wait until the AM for your Van Houtte coffee fix, still, I like to get my loto tickets here since every little purchase I make goes towards my Year-​End Co-​Op dividend (available to members depending on what you spend for the lifetime extravagant fee of $ 1) and the discount coupons too when I fill up (2.5 cents per litre of gas given back as a discount coupon towards groceries at a Co-​Op supermarket).
Oh, almost forgot, they have one of those mechanized super touchless car washes in 3 flavours, regular, Super and Supreme, each level adding to the level of cleanliness (?!? a clean car is still a clean car… after all). I really should try one just to see the machines whirl.
#15 of Unilocal’s 30-​Day Review Challenge

Thankfully, just about every carwash around is now «touchless.» After all, who wants spinning brushes, embedded with other cars’ grime, abrasively whipping your paint like micro-​fine sandpaper?
The touchless playing field is now pretty level, so how about some new innovation?
It’s here.
This Kingsland facility contains a touchless carwash different from most, in that it is «self-​propelled» (similar to Bubbles), but the owner remains in the car.
What this means is that the driver enters the moving queue themselves, and immediately begins the wash procedure. This is occurring while, down the track, other cars are being rinsed and dried.
In other words, you don’t need to wait for the complete wash cycle before your car enters. Multiple cars are in process simultaneously, and this saves everyone time!
I love the idea, however, this also means that drivers need to be able to:
A) Have enough skill to position a front tire between the rails above the moving track.
B) Follow directions.
These two points can lead to some unexpected and unintentional comedy!
I witnessed one driver moving back and forth repeatedly trying to get a wheel BETWEEN the rails, and then, trying to figure out why the car was not moving once there.
This is the «following directions» part.
As the sign says, you must be in neutral, and GET YOUR FOOT OFF THE BRAKES! Funny how a car just sits there with all 4 wheels locked up.
Otherwise, this Kingsland Co-​op facility is great. There is no Co-​Op grocery store – it is convenience only. But for a «gas station,» it’s everything you need.
There are a significant number of gas pumps out front, which means no waiting.
Also, and most significant in my «gas station choices,» the pump handles lock in the open position!
I ** REFUSE ** to gas up at any station where I need to physically hold the pump for all 120 litres in the wind/​rain/​sub zero temps. Sorry other guys, if you bowed to your lawyers and removed the locks, I fill elsewhere.
The convenience store is large, clean and new. And attached, a Co-​Op liquor store. What you’d expect out of both in a brand new location.
Truly, this place lets you knock off a number of «to-do’s» in one stop.