Out with the Old

Friday, July 18, the building on the corner of Chestnut and Highway 30 was demolished. The building sat on the same site as the 24 hour fueling station managed by the Panhandle Coop. Although the building has been demolished, the fueling station is not going anywhere.

Many in the community would agree that, prior to it being removed, the building next to the 24 hour fueling station was an eyesore of sorts. Panhandle Coop agreed and upon examining some facts and figures made a decision on what they could do with their little fueling station.

Susan Wiedeman, Marketing Director for Panhandle Coop, explained the plans for the corner in question.

"We'll be replacing the dispensers and we'll be putting up a different and smaller building there. It will be basically a smaller 24 hour fueling station," Wiedeman said.

The station, which currently carries two types of diesel and three kinds of road gasoline will have its dispensers replaced as Wiedeman mentioned, however, it will not lose any of the kinds of gasoline the people in the area have become accustomed to having readily available.

With Kimball already having quite a few places for residents and visitors alike to refuel their vehicles, it might seem like the Coop is putting a lot of effort into a futile endeavor. However, Wiedeman ensured that the Coop had done its research before making their decision.

"We really analyzed this and looked at our traffic, and we do a fair amount of traffic there, especially on the diesel side considering that no one can really see us or find us. We thought it would be good to clean up that corner a little bit and put up new signage, and part of that signage will be a message center," Wiedaman said.

Coop has seen enough traffic at their fueling station to put time and effort into cleaning it up and making it both more visible and more accessible. The signage being put up will be of great benefit to the Coop, because it will make their station easier to find. This signage will also be a benefit to the community, because it will potentially draw in more people to spend money in Kimball. People who fuel up often need to stop for food or other provisions.

"And that signage will be going perpendicular to Chestnut. The sign will be facing north and south. The signs will be showing the gas prices, and we will be doing some advertising for Main Street Market. Possibly, if there are community events, we will put those up there but it won't be a message board for anyone to put something on," Wiedeman said.

Despite the limitations of the signage, it will still be a positive draw for Kimball. While the Coop is keeping it a fueling station, the building that will be put up in place of the old one will be much smaller. Simply, it will be more of a building for the upkeep of the fueling station rather than a convenience store. The location will continue to have credit cards as the only form of acceptable payment.

"We feel it will open things up for trucks that want to pull up there off any of the highways. Like I said, we were a little surprised at the amount of traffic we had there. That's why we analyzed it, and our board told us to go ahead and pursue it," Wiedeman said.

The Coop is aware of the impression their building was giving of Kimball and want it to be a clean, open corner that is easily accessible without being an eyesore. Not only are they cleaning it up to make it more attractive for Kimball, but, as said before, it is a very good source of revenue for the Coop itself.

"So we tore down the old building and next summer who knows maybe we'll do some landscaping, but it'll look a lot better a lot cleaner and then the message board will be a very nice sign," Wiedeman said.

The Coop hopes to have their plans for their fueling station completed by September 1 of this year.