Best Performance by a Route 66 C-store Goes to…

Never underestimate the box office appeal of a retail petroleum site, especially when it’s located along America’s most picturesque road.

In last week’s SSCS Blog Post, we wrote about the tight connection between c-stores, gas stations, and one of America’s most famous roads, Route 66. You know what else happened last week? The Oscars.

That’s an interesting pairing—Route 66 and the movies. Television, too, now that we think about it, which makes sense since Route 66 is one of the most visually interesting roads in the U.S.

Because the gas stations and c-stores that line this colorful thoroughfare lend to its mystique, we started poking around to find examples of where they were used in movies and television to amplify and reflect that unique Route 66 character. Here’s what we found.

The 66 Diner, Albuquerque, New Mexico. As you might expect from a location named after the road itself, this classic convenience store and diner has been used several times, once in the cult-favorite movie, Easy Rider, as well as the critically acclaimed TV series, Breaking Bad.

The U-Drop Inn, Shamrock, Texas: It’s more of a gift shop than a classic gas station now, but this iconic 1930s building should be familiar to most as the centerpiece for Pixar’s animated Cars series.

Roy’s, Amboy, California: This is one of those locations that has appeared in enough commercials, videos, and movies to classify as iconic. For years its isolated sign and accompanying building, fallen into disrepair, provided the perfect setting for apocalyptic scenes and scary horror movies. Recently renovated, it has been turned into a thriving tourist destination that emphasizes its Route 66 legacy.

Bagdad Café, Newberry Springs, California: An entire movie got its name and centered around this oasis in the middle of a rather desolate stretch of the route. Cold drinks and a unique sense of food service never looked better to hot travelers.

It’s not really a c-store, but… the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico was featured on the TV show, The West Wing, and looks really, really cool, as does the town in which it is located—a quintessential Route 66 destination—so we included it.

Lest We Forget: A long, long time ago, before I-40 was built to take its place, there was a fairly successful TV series (over 100 episodes) that took place all up and down Route 66. The cast and crew actually drove to the spots on Route 66 and shot on a new location every week.

Route 66 may be one of the most famous highways in the U.S., but we know there are many others, themselves lined with gas stations and c-stores, some of them pretty interesting in their own right. No matter what road you’re on, if you’re a retail petroleum operator looking for software solutions that can boost your success and profitability, feel free to call SSCS at (800) 972-7727.