Business Pulse: This year, I’ll hide scrambled eggs
I haven’t seen too many Easter egg hunts where the kids were running to get back to the car, but that was the case yesterday at West Elementary.
Thanks to an untimely downpour, kids were running for shelter and running to get underneath umbrellas as fast as they were running after those colorful, plastic eggs.
I’ve hunted down plastic eggs for so many Easters, the practice has almost become routine. That’s why I’ve decided to do something a little different this year.
Instead of hunting plastic eggs, or hard-boiled eggs, I’m going to hide scrambled eggs around the house. And judging from the interest received from the dog yesterday, I better be careful where I hide those scrambled eggs in the yard.
After making an initial test batch Saturday morning, I discovered Sammy the dog is rather fond of scrambled eggs. That makes my No. 1 priority to be sure the dog doesn’t eat our Easter egg hunt.
I figure this first-ever Clark Family Scrambled Egg Hunt is going to be a historic event- one which will go down in the history books. Sure I’m generally being laughed at now for hiding scrambled eggs behind the sofa, but 150 years down the road, our great grandchildren may be hearing about the man from McMinnville who first started the tradition of hiding scrambled eggs for Easter.
After yesterday’s test run, I found there’s one main problem with hiding scrambled eggs. I didn’t calculate anything to use as the coveted Golden Egg.
At first I figured an omelet would be the perfect choice to serve as Golden Egg. But the favorite breakfast at our house has to be biscuit and gravy so I’m trying to devise a way to make biscuit and gravy the Golden Egg.
That’s enough egg hunt talk for now. I won’t make you hunt any further to read this week’s business news.
Hullett’s expands across the highway
Anyone who has ever spent much time out Morrison way knows about Hullett’s Phillips 66. Owner C.H. Hullett started the business some 35 years ago so you had to figure the time would come when he would need to expand.
That time came Monday when C.H. and his son, Charlie, opened their tire and lube center on the other side of Highway 55. They’ll still continue to operate the Phillips 66 station, but this will give them the chance to really stretch their wings and grow.
“There was only so much we could do with the two, little bays over there,” said C.H. “We were running over each other and boy it was hot in the summer and cold in the winter.”
The new shop will officially be called Hullett’s Tire, Lube and Towing and it’s got the same phone number, 635-2426, as the Phillips 66 station.
“I’ve had that same number since 1959,” said C.H., who used to operate a cafe before getting in the automotive business in March of ’67. “I don’t have anything to do with cooking now. I don’t even cook my own food.”
Over the years, C.H. has made sure to keep good help, most notably his son, who is now co-owner. Known by most folks as Charlie Brown, he first started working with his father when he was 13.
“Right now, we’ve still got a mess,” said Charlie Brown about the new shop. “We’ve got half our stuff here and the other half is still over there. But we’re moving along, still doing the same thing we’ve done for years.”
When it comes to tires, C.H. and Charlie know their stuff. They will work on tires for all passenger vehicles, tractor trailers, four-wheelers, bicycles, golf carts and lawn mowers. They’ll repair just about any type of tire imaginable, except for one.
“We don’t do motorcycle tires,” said C.H. “We don’t want to mess with them.”
One of the perks to the new location is a spacious waiting room which includes a drink machine and a TV. And as far as customer service goes, you won’t find nicer folks to work on your vehicle than C.H. and Charlie. C.H. wanted to give special thanks to Gant Oil Company, who sold him his initial piece of property 35 years ago, and who recently sold him the new lot for his tire super store.
Target has no plans for McMinnville
All those rumors about Target possibly opening a store in McMinnville can come to an abrupt halt. A Target official told me last week the company has no plans to locate here.
“I’m afraid McMinnville is too small a market for our consideration now,” said Greg Pilche, who is in charge of Target’s real estate development in Tennessee. “Maybe in several years our focus may change, but for the time being, we’re interested in multiple-store markets.”
Pilche said Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville are all cities Target is eyeing for expansion. Those cities are attractive because they are big enough for Target to operate two stores, thereby consolidating some expenses.
“McMinnville doesn’t fit our program for now,” said Pilche.
So what’s the latest on the Kmart space?
I knew you’d be anxious for Kmart news and I do have an update. In an effort to lease the space occupied by many of its closed stores, Kmart has contracted with a company called The Shopping Center Group to serve as a middle man.
The way I understand the process, The Shopping Center Group is pretty much like a real estate agent except the company deals exclusively with shopping centers seeking new tenants. According to industrial recruiter Jim Gray, a representative from The Shopping Center Group was in town last week to get basic demographic information about Warren County.
Gray said the representative was interested in information about the population, the unemployment rate, and recreational facilities. For all the folks who said new city pools and a skatepark wouldn’t amount to a hill of beans when it comes to recruiting new jobs, here is the first chance for you to open your mouth and insert your foot.
I put a call in to John Forster of The Shopping Center Group and he confirmed the company is working to fill the empty Kmart buildings, but said it’s very early in the process.
“I’m just now compiling data, strategizing to come up with what we think will be the best game plan for moving the property,” said Forster. “Right now we really don’t have enough information to have a plan.”
That’s why Forster was in town last week. He said he would be more than happy to talk with me in a few weeks when more information is available.
There’s a new RV dealer in town
With the upcoming closing of Kmart, McMinnville may soon be a one-horse town when it comes to large, discount retailers, but at least we have competition in the RV business.
Newby Motors unveiled its new line of Gulf Stream RVs last week with a new business called Newby RV Sales. Unlike their car lot, which carries only used cars, Newby RV Sales offers top-of-the-line, sparkling new RVs starting at $10,000.
“We’ve camped all our lives,” said co-owner Tim Newby, who has started the business with his brother, Johnny. “That’s what gave us the idea for this. We hope to carry some camping accessories too.”
Gulf Stream is one of the country’s major RV manufacturers, producing about 22 new units each and every day. Johnny and Tim currently have five of those units on their lot with seven more on the way.
If you’re in the market for a used RV, just give them a little time. Tim and Johnny say they’ll take trade-ins and will then put the used RVs up for sale.
Odds and ends
This isn’t by any means business news, but I thought I would take a second to pass along information concerning a former Standard columnist. Dick Kleiner, a longtime entertainment writer, died last month at his home in California. He was 80.
The Standard published Kleiner’s popular “Ask Dick” Q&A column for a number of years until his retirement at the end of 2001. Kleiner began his writing career in 1947. For fans of Dick’s column, I thought you might care to hear of his passing.