Bowlin Travel Centers, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been serving the traveling public in the Southwest for more than 100 years. Today the travel center company is led by President and CEO Michael Bowlin and has grown considerably since it started as a single-store operation in New Mexico.
09-01-2018 White’s Travel Plaza hosted the 36th annual Shell Rotella SuperRigs event in June. White’s, which is owned by NATSO member Bobby Berkstresser and located on I-81 in Raphine, Virginia, is always a popular location, and when you add a spectacular event like the Shell Big Rigs, it becomes even more of a draw.
09-01-2018 Pride Stores LLC, headquartered in Springfield, Massachusetts, put an extra emphasis on its online presence by hiring a social media manager. After almost two years, Chris Szarek has grown the company’s digital profile by strategically using Google business tools, Facebook and more.
07-01-2018 Home Service Oil Co., doing business as Express Mart, St. Louis, Missouri, has their managers’ “offices” in the center of its convenience stores.
05-01-2018 If you look over Guthrie Travel Center in Guthrie, Oklahoma, from left to right—from the cooler to the coffee area—you’d see they’ve done a nice job highlighting their offerings with signage and that includes the movable placards over their coolers.
03-01-2018 As both consumers and business owners and many of us have seen that the pace of change is accelerating. Technology is changing, the retail experience is changing and our customers are changing. That means we must observe the trends and innovate to remain relevant. Finding and applying great ideas has become so important, especially as our pool of competitors has grown. We’re not just competing with other truckstops for both customers and staff, we’re competing with every retail outlet.
03-01-2018 In today’s retail landscape, truckstop and travel plaza operators are not only competing with each other, but also with other highly competent retailers, making innovation even more important. During NATSO Connect, operators came together in The Great Ideas! Session to learn more about what is working for their peers, get inspiration from both inside and outside of the industry and think through how they can adapt ideas to work for them.
02-11-2018 The sharing took place during the Great Ideas! for Independent Operators Workshop during The NATSO Show 2017, and operators tackled everything from food service to point-of-sale technology.
11-01-2017 Fidget spinners have taken the world by storm, and Cash Magic Truck Plaza and Casino, which operated 22 locations in Louisiana is cashing in on the trend. The company originall put a box of 36 in each of its stores right on the checkout counter and sold out within a couple of days.
09-01-2017 Target has developed a fitting room that could be placed in an existing space or built-in as part of new construction.
06-30-2017 After concluding that drivers are tired of eating the same foods everywhere, L.G. Truckers City dba TA Wapakoneta in Wapakoneta, Ohio, started putting unusual meat products on its buffet. Items include duck in orange sauce, lamb, frog legs and pastisio, which is a Greek lasagna.
03-01-2017