Primo Stropoli, the fourth-generation owner of Tetta’s Market in the hamlet of Samsonville, keeps gas prices low because “quantity is more important than profit margin.” As the national average hit $4.081 this week, prompting state lawmakers to demand a cap on gas taxes above $3 a gallon, Stropoli is pumping 87-octane for just $3.69.
“I would not be surprised if it’s the cheapest gas in New York state right now,” Stropoli said.
Stropoli, 36, took over the market from his grandparents and reopened the business in 2020. Tetta’s began with his great-grandfather, a first-generation immigrant from Italy, and became a Samsonville fixture. Stropoli is trying to preserve that legacy while adapting to a new rural economy shaped by inflation, more second homes, and changing customer expectations. He’s added breakfast, revived an old pizza oven, secured a tavern license, built an outdoor beer garden, and is now preparing to bring on a chef to shape a menu inspired by classic Italian gastronomy.
Read on for more on how surging oil prices are striking close to home as local businesses like Tetta’s struggle to cope.
Your gas prices are currently among the lowest around. What is Tetta’s charging right now, and why?
Primo Stropoli: Right now we’re at $3.69 for Regular 87-octane. I would not be surprised if it’s the cheapest gas in New York state right now.
Quantity is more important than profit margin. If we’re able to move more product, whether it’s grocery products or gasoline, ultimately it’s going to be better. You’re going to wind up with more money in your pocket than you would if you have everything priced to the point where it’s barely moving.
What does it take for a small convenience store like this to survive today?
A real estate agent told me that the model we need is if everyone lived in the store. There’s a three-bedroom apartment above Tetta’s that my family grew up in. He said that’s the way you survive, where everyone is working the store and pooling the money together and living as one big family. That’s essentially what my grandparents did.
For 45 years, they had four children working the store. Husband and wife worked the store. Cousins worked the store. We all worked in the store basically for free.
Payroll is insane. My payroll is about $25,000 a month. If I had a family working the store, we could live pretty comfortably off that. Instead, that money goes out to the payroll.
In some ways that’s good, because we’re providing jobs for people in the community. But it’s not getting easier. There’s going to come a point where my employees can’t afford to live here anymore. And then what happens?
Gas prices have been volatile. How much does timing affect what you can charge at the pump?
It all depends on the timing. Gas is a market that fluctuates minute to minute, day to day. Sometimes it levels off for weeks or months, but then a world event happens and next thing you know it’s 75 cents higher.
Back at the end of February, I called our gas delivery guys on a Thursday and asked if we could get a delivery at the beginning of next week. That weekend the war in Iran started. They had quoted me one price on Thursday. By the time it got to us on Tuesday, it was 30 cents higher.
When you’re talking about a 16,000-gallon tank, it adds up. It’s thousands of dollars more. And when you’re working with such thin margins, a 30-cent increase is huge. It’s massive.
What are customers feeling right now as gas prices rise?
Everybody is kind of on the same page, no matter what your income is. It’s just another thing after coming off of two years of inflation. Gas prices have jumped up a dollar in the last month, which is insane.
How much money is there in gas for an independent business like yours?
Gas is one of those things, kind of like cigarettes, where it’s a draw, but you’re not making a ton of money off it. You’re not getting rich off gas.
It costs a lot to upkeep the tank with all the testing and DEC regulations, and then maintenance on the pumps. It’s an expense, but it’s a draw. You get people in here and hopefully they buy other things.
If your gas is already cheaper than nearby stations, why not raise the price another 10 cents?
There’s really no need to. Getting back to our business mindset moving forward, quantity is more important than profit margin.
We want people to come.
How much harder has it become to run a place like Tetta’s in the last few years?
There’s no room for error anymore. You’re counting every penny. Our overhead during 2023 and 2024 went up 30, 40% in a matter of 12 months. My electric bill went from $800 a month to over $2,000.
Not to mention the cost of employees and hourly wages. Every year there’s a new thing the state has coming down the pipeline that ends up just being money right out of my pocket.
How has the area’s changing population affected the business?
Now 60 or 70% of our town is second homes. It’s completely changed the demographic, but also how you do business. We’re like a weekend seasonal place now. We have to pivot and become more of a destination rather than what we’ve always been, just that local convenience store.
A lot of locals just cashed out and left. I had three employees last fall leave for South Carolina, Florida, Texas. It feels like we lost something. There’s not that energy anymore.
So what is the strategy for adapting?
You have to be almost undeniable. People will travel far and wide for good food.
Up until this point, what we’ve offered was better than what my grandparents did, but it’s all relative. We expanded the deli, but compared to a real deli, we’re barely scratching the surface. As a pizzeria, we barely scratched the surface. As a café, we barely scratched the surface.
So diving deeper into all those things, we’re going to be offering espresso, cappuccino, those sort of café items. With the chef, she’s going to be really honing in on the menu and making it a destination sort of eatery.
How have tariffs and inflation affected those imported goods?
Olives doubled in price. This jar of marinara sauce is $10.99. Before, a couple years ago, it was probably $7.99.
The tariffs do not help Italian imports specifically, but all of our products have gone up. You have to fight for every penny, every savings. What’s left for the owner at the end of the day, there’s not much.
What does all this demand personally from you as the owner?
It’s a grind. It’s a lifestyle that not many people want to get into, especially in America in 2026, because you put in countless hours. You have no life. The business is your life.
Noah Eckstein is the editor-in-chief of The Overlook. Send correspondence to noah@theoverlooknews.com.