Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
New travel center to be template for Big Horn Co-op
A crane moves cement blocks into place for the underground fuel tanks at the new Big Horn Cooperative Travel Center. The old convenience store, set to be demolished next week can be seen in the background to the right with the new convenience store and travel center under construction at the left.
WORLAND - Dirt and infrastructure issues caused Big Horn Cooperative Marketing Association to close down their convenience store sooner and longer than anticipated while the new Travel Center is constructed.
Big Horn Cooperative Marketing Director Chris Gross said Monday was the official close date for the old convenience store on the west end of Worland off of U.S. Highway 20.
Initially, he said, they had hoped the store would be "out of service" four to seven days before the new store opened and that they would only have half of the fuel islands down for a limited time.
At the present no fuel islands are open and the convenience store is closed for at least 60 days.
Gross said with the fuel islands closed at present, Big Horn Cooperative is still serving its patrons and working with ag producers to ensure they have the fuel they need.
"As we are in barley harvest and working toward corn and beans that we have made some difficulty there so we are making sure we have some fuel on those guys' places," Gross said.
"We're shooting for 60 days to have at least one fuel island operating," Gross said.
Regarding the fuel islands, Gross said there will be more islands and more pumps than the old store had including one fuel island for premium, non-ethanol gasoline and premium diesel to make it easier for those vehicles including motorcycles, boats, side-by-sides, that only take premium, to fuel up.
The diesel island will also have a pump for DEF (diesel exhaust fluid).
The new convenience store is 8,000 square feet, compared to the old store that was 2,500 square feet.
He said they will be expanding their hot food offerings and have seating available. There will be showers available for truckers and better overnight parking for trucks where the old tire shop used to be.
Current overnight parking has been moved to Railway Avenue.
The liquor store will be expanded into a full spirit shop with "something cool planned" for the beer cave, Gross said. He said there will be a few surprises in the convenience store as well that they are keeping under wrap until the opening.
He said the new store will be the template for Big Horn Cooperative convenience stores in the future.
"The design is really neat. It's not something Big Horn Coop has done before. It is a nice building that will last a long time," Gross said.
The company is retaining all employees from the convenience store. Some are working this week to prepare the store for demolition next week, some are moving to other Cooperative locations.
TIRE SHOP
The first part of the Big Horn Cooperative renovations in Worland began with the new tire shop built across the highway.
He said the tire shop is offering full service oil changes, alignments, of course, tires, and the mobile truck for ag producers to get them back and operating in the field.
The propane fill has been moved there as well.
"The full show room with the automotive products and batteries is the new thing. It's more than just tires," Gross said. He added that they have items for working on trailers, cleaning and maintaining your car, full line of batteries.
There is a nice clean waiting area in the new shop.
They added three new employees with the new tire shop, Gross said, thanks to the larger space and offering more services.
"We're always looking for help," Gross noted.
