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Donated land provides for essential services |
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Friday, 11 July 2008 |
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Photo by Michelle Zlomke
Ken and Jake Berns are two customers who stopped in for lunch items while they were in Merna last week. Abby Gentry, right, is one of eight employees at the store.
By MICHELLE ZLOMKE
Chief Assistant Editor
The generosity of a family and the ingenuity of a businessman have filled a gap in services available in a small town in the county.
Merna residents haven't had access to basic groceries, fuel or convenience foods since the closing of Petro Plus. Herman Safranek and his sons wanted to eliminate that problem in their community.
Last fall, Herman, Roger and Jerry Safranek approached Arcadia businessman Jim Trotter with a proposal. They would donate the land previously used by them for farm equipment sales on Highway 2.
"We just wanted to see Merna get gas and bread and milk," Roger Safranek said. "We told him we'd give him the ground if he'd put a station there. When you lose those things, it's quite a blow to a community."
Trotter's convenience store and Sinclair station location opened two weeks ago in Merna. The fuel stop and convenience store is the latest of Trotter's locations, that include places in Arcadia, Ord, Scotia, Loup City and Broken Bow.
The business has four full-time and four part-time employees.
"Jim Trotter put in a first class place here," Safranek said. "I think there's a real appreciation here that the Trotter family was willing to make that kind of investment in the community."
Jim said the needs of the community and the region determined the scope of the business.
"We handle some of what I call staple groceries," he said. "We have basic things like milk, eggs and bacon."
Those products help compensate for the lack of a store in the community. Trotter said he also wanted to provide a meal option in the town.
"We are set up a little differently there where Merna doesn't have a cafe," Trotter said. "We have a french fryer and a pizza oven and weve got a bigger inside seating area."
In addition, Trotter said he wanted to provide expanded fuel services at the station.
The station currently has the only E85 pump in the county, Trotter said. The Merna location also has soy biodiesel.
Safranek and Trotter both said they have heard from many Merna area residents who appreciate the new business in the community.
"People are really grateful that were up there," Trotter said.
Store manager Vedah Fales said the business has been very busy since its opening.
"We have been busy, very busy," Fales said. "There's rarely a time when there haven't been people in here. It's usually three or four people at a time." |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 July 2008 )
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