NORTHAMPTON — Ever since moving to Florence 18 years ago, JoJo Howlett has had only one choice for where she fills her car with gas — the Citgo gas station in the village’s center, owned by Bob Gougeon and his family.

But now, Howlett will need to find another place to buy gas. The station has closed down its fuel service, though it will still remain open for automotive repairs, towing and propane fill-ups. It is believed to be the last full-service gas station in Northampton.

“It just feels like the end of something special,” Howlett said. “I’ll still go there for my car repairs, but it’s just not the same.”

Gougeon said he decided to shut down the gas station due to the introduction of a new state regulation by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection that would have required the business to install new spill buckets, used to collect and contain gasoline as it’s transferred into underground storage tanks. Gougeon said that given the advanced age of the tanks, he would have had to replace them in order to comply with the regulation. That would cost the station an estimated $600,000.

“If you notice, all gas stations these days are attached to a convenience store,” Gougeon said. “We don’t have a store, so there’s no way we can make enough money to pay off that $600,000.”

Gougeon has worked at the gas station since he was 13 under the tutelage of his father, Bob Gougeon Sr. The station has carried several brands of gasoline over the years, originally an Arco, then a Texaco, then Shell before settling on Citgo, its current logo.

It became known as a popular place for students at Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School to work at during the summer months as attendants.

“They had to deal with and talk to customers,” Gougeon said. “It was a good learning curve.”

Joe Roberts, who worked as a pump jockey at the station for 20 years before retiring earlier this year, said he was always happy to provide service for people who might not be otherwise able to pump gas themselves, such as the elderly or those with disabilities.

Roberts said the people were his favorite part of the job. “Being able to serve people in the community, most of them I knew my entire life,” he said. “It was an important service to provide.”

Roberts said he understood the reasons behind the decision to close the gas station but that, like Howlett, he saw it as an end of an era in Florence.

“I was the last of my kind,” Roberts said. “It’s the end of something that I consider valuable to the community.”

Other than the Citgo, several other self-service gas stations exist in the village, including a Cumberland Farms located just across the street. Gougeon said that unlike his store, the larger chains would likely be unaffected by the new regulations.

“They probably knew [about the regulations] when they built,” Gougeon said. “It’s just the older gas stations like ours that will be affected.”

This isn’t the first time an older gas station has stopped full-service gas operations. In 2022, Ren’s Mobil Service at 161 North Pleasant St. in Amherst briefly halted service after nearly five decades, with owner Reynold Gladu saying that he could no longer abide by the high gas prices that at the time were topping $5 a gallon in many places.

“A lot of people are stopping by to offer me their condolences, but I actually feel sorry for them because some of them have been my customers for close to 50 years,” Gladu told the Gazette in 2022.

A month later, Ren’s began pumping gas again after finding a new supplier in the wake of breaking a contract with his old supplier. Later that fall, a GoFundMe set up by longtime customers raised $65,000 that was used to pay legal fees associated with breaking the contract, replenishing assets and avoiding any potential foreclosure on the property. The business remains in operation today.

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.