‘Stepping stone to the future’
Mills County officials are hopeful Thursday’s opening of the Love’s Travel Center & Country Store is only the beginning of an economic development boom near the Interstate 29 – Highway 34 interchange west of Glenwood.
The 10,000 square-foot facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and features a large fueling station, Subway restaurant, laundry capabilities, game room and convenience store featuring gourmet coffee, fountain drinks, gift items and an assortment of snacks. The store also offers services for professional drivers, including 60 truck parking spaces, five showers and a tire care center.
Oklahoma-based Love’s is projected to employ around 50 workers at its Mills County location.
“With the new travel stop being so close to Council Bluffs and Omaha, we’re in a great place to serve many types of customers,” said Tom Love, founder and executive chairman of Love’s. “Iowa and Nebraska have been great places for us to do business because of the networks of interstates and main highways. We look forward to providing the ‘clean places, friendly faces’ Love’s is known for to residents, travelers and professional drivers in Mills County.”
Lonnie Mayberry, a member of the Mills County Board of Supervisors and president of the Mills County Economic Development Foun-dation, said he’s optimistic the travel center will be the first of many businesses and industries to locate in the newly-named Eagle Landing Business Park.
“Infrastructure is in place,” Mayberry said. “We have some preliminary engineering done for the roads, water, sewer, fiber, gas – all of the utilities that need to be out there. We’re just waiting for somebody to pull the trigger. It’s all ready to go.”
Later this winter or in early spring, Lincoln Farm and Home will open a new BP station and convenience store directly east of the Love’s location. Mayberry said he expects the two new businesses to spark more development at the interchange.
“Lincoln’s and Love’s are two different animals,” Mayberry said. “I think they’ll both serve the customers and traffic that are currently on Highway 34. The traffic counts are up out there and I hope they both do well.
“I think it’s going to have a great impact. Mills County needs commercial and industrial tax base here. Those are just two of the stepping stones of what we’re hopefully going to see here in the near future.”
Mills County Economic Development Director Rick Allely echoed Mayberry’s thoughts, calling the Love’s opening a “very positive” development. for Eagle Landing Business Park.
Allely said Love’s and the new Lincoln Farm and Home facility will compliment the light manufacturing and warehouse distribution firms being targeted as potential tenants in the business park.
Love’s will hold a ribbon cutting in conjunction with the Glenwood Area Chamber of Commerce at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 15. During the ceremony, Love’s will present a $2,000 donation to On With Life, the nonprofit brain injury treatment and rehabilitation facility in Glenwood.
Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores is headquartered in Oklahoma City. Founded in 1964, Love’s has more than 450 locations in 41 states and employs more than 20,000 people.