Not even record high gasoline prices were enough to save a nearly 50-year-old Massachusetts Street gasoline station from closure.

A closed sign hangs from the pumps at the former Mass Street Phillips 66 station at 19th and Massachusetts streets. The station’s owner, Ricky Atwell, said Wednesday that the gasoline and convenience store business wouldn’t reopen. Instead, Atwell will focus solely on automotive repairs.

“We just weren’t big enough,” said Atwell, who renamed the business Mass Street Automotive.

The station was the only one Atwell owned. He said it was becoming increasingly difficult for small, independent operators to compete with large convenience store chains and big-box grocery and discount store retailers that sell gasoline.

Others in the industry agreed.

Tom Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association of Kansas, estimated his organization’s membership of 250 companies had declined by about 15 percent during the past year because of a loss of mom-and-pop operators.

“There are a lot of small operators looking to sell their stations right now,” Palace said. “I think you’re going to have to see the smaller guy get bigger to survive.”

Earlier in the year, the Site Mini Mart at 23rd Street and Haskell Avenue closed after more than 20 years in business, and late last year the Total gasoline station at the intersection of North Third Street and Industrial Lane in North Lawrence closed.

The Massachusetts Street location had been a gasoline station since 1955, said Atwell, who has managed the business for six years. He said high gasoline prices hadn’t provided the business a boost.

In fact, some owners of small stations said the volatile gasoline prices had made business more difficult.

Ricky Atwell, Lawrence, works at the former Mass Street Phillips 66 station at 19th and Massachusetts streets. Atwell, pictured on Wednesday, has converted the building into an automotive repair shop.

Mike Aman, owner of the University Phillips 66, 2434 Iowa, said that it wasn’t uncommon for him to buy a truckload of fuel at a high price and then immediately have the prices drop. That oftentimes puts small stations at a competitive disadvantage because they don’t sell their gas as quickly as larger stations do.

“When gas prices went down 20 cents in about three weeks, we took a beating,” Aman said. “We we’re selling our premium gas for a loss of about 16 cents per gallon.”

Mark Davis, manager at the Clinton Cove Mini-Mart, said the Lawrence gasoline industry had become extremely competitive, which made it more difficult for smaller companies to keep up with increasing labor, insurance and other overhead costs.

“I think ultimately you’ll see a lot less of the small stores,” Davis said. “You’ll see a lot more big chains.”

Palace said small operators were trying to fight back by diversifying their businesses. He said many were adding franchise sandwich or coffee shops inside their stores. He said operators also were learning to rely more on the sale of their nongasoline products.

“If you want to make a living, you pretty much have to make it on inside sales,” Palace said. “It’s candy bars, pop, Slurpees. But the problem is that it takes a lot of Slurpees to pay your bills.”