Open for business
New Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store opens in Ontario

By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Friday, December 12, 2008 12:16 PM PST

The exterior of the newly built Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store, situated at 1041 N.W. Washington Ave., Ontario as seen Wednesday. General Manager Eric Cavener said the store opened Dec. 4, and a grand opening is planned to occur within a month.

Ontario — After opening its doors in Ontario Thursday, the Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store general manager expressed excitement for the new addition to the community.

General Manager of Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store Eric Cavener said the store, situated at 1041 N.W. Washington Ave., held a “soft opening” Thursday, meaning the firm just “opened the doors without any pomp and circumstance,” Cavener said.

However, both Cavener and Love’s Travel Stop and Country Stores Communication Manager Christina Dukeman said a grand opening is planned for the future, though neither could offer an exact date.

“We typically do a grand opening about a month after the opening,” Dukeman said.

Dukeman said she believed the opening would be sometime “right before” Christmas or after Jan. 1 and that she would know for certain in about a week. She also said the grand openings normally involve the district manager, general manager and local chamber of commerce.

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“We’re just really excited to be in the community,” Cavener said.

He said he hopes Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store will be more involved in the community in the future. He also said while the station’s “No. 1 customer is the trucker” he would like community members to see the station as a good place to “get their gasoline and cup of coffee in the morning.”

The building itself will cover around 9,000 square feet. It also contains a convenience store as well as five showers, “for our professional drivers,” Cavener said.

In June, Ontario-based Mid-Valley Construction owner Ty Frazier spoke about the building’s cost.

“It’s right at the three and a half million dollar point, almost four,” he said. “It’s a big site. The site covers about 51⁄2 acres. It’s almost a seven-acre parcel.”

At the time, the construction crew was still working on “earth work” for the project, including initial site work and building pads. Dukeman said the time from start to finish was normal, with Love’s able to be built in about six months.

This particular Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store was actually ahead of schedule, with Frazier referring to a mid-December completion in June.

The building also contains a Chester’s Chicken restaurant and a Subway. Caverner said the building also offers a souvenir gift shop. The travel stop also offers overnight parking, a driver rest area, an ATM and pay phones.

The Ontario truck stop is the second Love’s Travel Stop in Oregon. The first is situated in Roseburg, near the Oregon coast. Love’s also lists a truck stop in Heyburn, in southern Idaho. Love’s currently has 200 truck stops across the country, focused mainly in Oklahoma and the surrounding states.