The Seneca Nation is adding to its revenue sources, saying it is building a gas station and convenience store next to its Buffalo Creek Casino on the edge of downtown Buffalo.
On his first full day in office, newly-elected Nation President Matthew Pagels said there will be another Seneca One Stop early next year, with construction already underway. It is being built by Seneca Management Construction at Michigan Avenue and Perry Street, which is federally certified as Seneca land, and is expected to employ 14 people.
The Nation has Seneca One Stops on four other territories: Cattaraugus, Allegany, Oil Spring and Niagara Falls. Since it belongs to the Seneca Nation, prices for gasoline and other products like tobacco can be substantially lower than off-reservation. That has long been a sore point with the convenience store industry.
Pagels said the Nation needs the revenue, since it has been hit by COVID-19 as just about everyone else has.
Earlier this year, the Senecas cut back on the allotment checks given to members of the Nation because all three casinos were closed and the flow of cash from them stopped. They are open again, but with fewer workers and probably fewer customers, reflecting the economic convulsions of the long lockdown.
