On a cloudy Saturday afternoon, I visited the BP gas station at 807 West Atkinson Avenue in the Arlington Heights neighborhood.
It wasn’t too busy, but that was no indication of how busy business has been since the owners made a plea to the Milwaukee community to increase their support.
"My wife and I are gonna say this right now: We appreciate everybody. We thank you guys for your support and for patronizing us," Marvin Nash says.
Marvin and his wife, Sonia, are the newest owners of that BP. They bought it in November, but the gas station has been Black-owned for decades.
Diane Stowers and her late husband, Jimmy, first bought the gas station in 1990. Stowers sold it to Kai Trimble-Lea, a Black woman, in 2021.
They’re new to gas station ownership, and to business ownership altogether.
Marvin says that’s one of the reasons they were initially hesitant to buy the gas station, when a previous owner approached them.
"It was presented to us I think three years ago, and we didn’t feel comfortable with it. And it was presented to us again, I wanna say eight months ago, or something like that," Marvin says. "And then we kind of contemplated back and forth and said, "Nah we’ll leave it alone.' And then it was presented to us again a third time, and then my wife and I said, 'You know what, maybe this is God’s calling for us to do something in the community.'"
The Nashes put their own money into opening the gas station.
But they realized the lift of their new venture was heavier than they expected; sales volume was low. Their competitors had more vehicles at the pumps. That’s when the Nashes made the decision last month to share with the Milwaukee community via social media that their business needed help.
And that wasn’t an easy decision to make.
Marvin says he was sitting at the computer, talking to God about how to improve their circumstances. Then he thought about Facebook. He says that while he isn’t a quote, “Facebook person,” he knows the reach social media can have.
So, he drafted a post. A few sentences read: MILWAUKEE!! MILWAUKEE!! MILWAUKEE!! We NEED your help. We need Milwaukee to patronize and support us. We cannot be successful without your help.
"Sent it to my wife. Sent it to our daughters and said, 'Hey what do you guys think about this?' Sent it to our family. And my wife said it was great. My daughter Marquita said, 'Hey, let’s send it now,'" Marvin notes. "I said wait a minute, hold on ‘cause I’m still a little scared. My daughter’s like, 'No, we’re going to send it.' She tweaked it a little bit, did little changes. Sent it out probably about 7:32 a.m. And at 9:00 a.m. the gas station was crowded."
That Facebook post went live on Jan. 17. Marvin says since then, the gas station has been busy from opening to closing.
"All the compliments, all the comments were: Hey, let’s go support these Black people. Let's go support the Black and Brown business," Marvin says.
Marvin says a gas station’s connection to the community is deeper than one might realize. It can be a community space.
"I remember when my wife and I first opened, the very first day we had, I don’t know at least 10 or 11 gentlemen sitting around, talking—it reminded me of a barbershop—sitting around talking, drinking coffee, and you could just feel like the love, just the community coming together," Marvin explains. "They were just, they were happy for it to be open. They really were."
Marvin says he and his wife want customers to feel friendliness, professionalism and cleanliness when they come to their gas station.
As the only Black-owned gas station in Wisconsin, Marvin says he uses that title as fuel to be the best. That’s due to his competitive nature.
But Marvin thinks we don’t see higher numbers of Black and Brown-owned gas stations because these communities don’t have access to resources. He says he and his wife are more than happy to share what they’ve learned with people who have questions about entering the industry.
In the meantime, the Nashes continue to express their gratitude to the community.
"And when I say everyone, I’m talking different races. Everybody has been here to support us. Even people from out of town has come to support us," Marvin says.
