Bypass makes life uncertain for Le Mars' businesses
By Michele Linck Journal staff writer | Posted: Sunday, October 15, 2006
Workers rip up the parking lot at the closed Le Mars Truck Stop on U.S. Highway 75 in Le Mars as part of its total renovation. Jim Brownmiller is betting he can make the facility profitable even after a U.S. 75 bypass opens, taking traffic out west of town. Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga.
LE MARS, Iowa -- Jim Brownmiller is either a forward thinking entrepreneur or a dreamer. Only time will tell.
In September the Le Mars businessman bought the defunct truck stop/cafe on the big curve of U.S. Highway 75 in Le Mars, even as the Iowa Department of Transportation was finishing work on a four-lane bypass that will take much of the busy route's truck traffic from his door, whisking it instead around the west side of town, nonstop.
The bypass is nearly finished and is on track to open by Thanksgiving if the weather cooperates.
Many of the 70 or so business owners along what will become Business 75 -- about a 3-miles stretch of road -- aren't as confident as Brownmiller that business will be good. They say the IDOT has told them to expect a drop-off of up to 30 percent for the first year. But also that traffic counts will rebound over five years as the bypass draws more travelers to the area in general.
Gas, food expect to lose
Exactly what each business is doing to counter the coming drop in "drive-through" traffic depends not only what type of business they're in, but also on their attitude.
Some owners are in the wait-and-and-see camp. "I don't make decisions on what might happen," said Dennis Bollin, owner of Oak `N' Treasures, a furniture and appliances store just north of the main, Highway 3 intersection on Business 75. Bollin said he personally can't afford to move out to the bypass. But he knows that a few businesses will and that other, new businesses, will start up there.
"Time will tell," Bollin added. "There could be something happen that will make it better for us."
He spoke out early against the bypass. A certain amount of his business is sales to passersby -- from Omaha and Lincoln, Naples, Fla., Phoenix and Minneapolis. They noticed his window displays while driving past or walking out of the Ice Cream Capital of the World Visitors Center across the street. "Even if it's a 10 or 15 percent (loss), that's significant," he said.
Others, like Myles Kass, owner of the 57-year-old landmark Bob's Drive-Inn, began aggressive countermeasures several years ago. "You're either busy living or you're busy dying," he quips.
Bob's, just two doors south of Bollin's at Highways 75 and 3, expanded and redecorated its dining room and added a deck five years ago, even before the first earth moving contract was let on the bypass.
"We tried to get more people off the highway to try our business and to know who we are," explained Nathan Kass, who operates Bob's. "Then maybe we can get them off the bypass a couple times when they're driving through." He said while the seasonal drive-in is largely supported by the community, business jumps 30 percent on weekends. He hopes they can hang on after traffic counts fall, and survive until they build back up.
For more insurance, the Kasses opened a second Bob's Drive-Inn four years ago at Lake Okoboji. This year they are building a year-around steak house at the south end of the Business 75 strip.
Just south of the big curve on Business 75, Dave Petter, owner of the Le Mars Dairy Queen for 18 years, said he's uncertain how much business the bypass will cost him. He is skeptical that it will help, adding that the IDOT said that it would, but didn't have proof. "There's only so much remodeling can help," he said.
Petter said his regulars will continue to stop, but attracting new business will be tough.
Hardees assistant district manager, Autumn Hartwig, said her restaurant is committed to staying where it is, in the strip center with the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and the Welcome Center. Those entities have also committed to stay and plan to draw traffic in with signs on the bypass.
Roger "Chico" Kanne, of Carroll, Iowa, owns the Break Pointe BP gas station at Highway 3 and Business 75, across from Bob's. "I don't see (the bypass) as a positive for us," he said. "We are looking at a few different approaches to the business. We've got some things in the works I can't talk about right now. We have to do something. In our business, it's location, location, people, people."
A clerk at the local Casey's General Store said simply, "I think we're gonna lose a lot of business."
Surprisingly, Movie Gallery manager Sue Spence said she expects the bypass to cost her some business. She said truckers and railroad workers set up accounts at the store and stop by on their way through town to pick up and return rented movies.
Not too worried
"I can't see that it will hurt our business," said Steve Ohm, co-owner of the Motor Inn car dealership at the north end of Business 75. He said he doesn't think the showroom needs the visibility that the bypass would offer to be successful.
"I consider our business more of a destination," he said. "If people are car shopping, people are going to get off the bypass and see what we have." And, he noted, 67 percent of car shoppers research on the Internet before they look in person.
The company does a lot of pick-up and drop-off repair business for Wells' Dairy employees, he said. But moving closer to the new headquarters building on the bypass would mean longer hauls into town for plant workers' vehicles.
At the nearby O'Reilly Auto Parts store, manager Denny Kowalke said his business is mostly local. He said the back of the store is visible from the bypass, so he may paint a big sign on it to remind passing traffic it's there. But he's not planning a move.
Arlen Schapp is, however. The manager of Midwest Implement, a John Deere dealership, said he believes visibility is important to sales. It's not so much for existing customers, but for those from other areas who might drive by and see something they need, he said. The company already owns land on the bypass and will build a new facility there one day.
Schapp said their current facility needs too much updating to be cost effective and the firm needs more display space, so the move makes sense.
Hotels feeling secure
Patty Schiff, manager of the Amber Inn motel, isn't a bit worried about the soon-to-decrease traffic flow past the 70-room facility and isn't even planning any additional advertising. She said the motel's low rates -- $36 for a single and $59 for a suite -- will keep the construction workers, tower workers, grain bin builders, older travelers and other regulars coming in.
The locally-owned Amerihost Inn & Suites doesn't rely much on drive-through traffic, either, according to general manager Leah Johnson. She said most of their customers are corporate visitors in town to see Wells' Dairy, Harkers, Bodeans Baking Co., or call on the hospital. She said most of the walk-in traffic is corporate people who don't think they need a reservation since it's only Le Mars. "Then they find out we're sold out."
Oh, happy day
Not every merchant is dreading the opening of the bypass. Those who cater mostly to the locals are looking forward to it.
"It will be the most wonderful moment of my life," said Ken Nelson, owner of Le Mars Flower House and Greenhouse for 36 years. "Our clientele tends to be older and this is the craziest highway to get on and off of right now."
Nelson said the store may lose some holiday drive-through customers, but will gain more with a less-busy road out front. He lives in the house which is attached to the flower shop and even he have a hard time getting in and out.
"I've seen the highway get busier and busier to the point of distraction," he said. "At 2 in the morning the traffic is still rolling. The truck traffic is horrendous."
Unlike the Flower House, the LongLines Wireless store is new in town. Sales manager Cindy Richter said she was well aware the bypass was coming when she chose to put the store right next to Big Apple Bagel in the Visitors Center strip at Business 75 and Highway 3. She had looked downtown and out near Wal-Mart but liked the highway location better.
"I just felt this is where a lot of things are happening and we wanted to be here," she said. "We are looking for something that's convenient to the people of Le Mars. If they need to run in quick, we're right here." And, she said, being near the ice cream parlor will bring some outside exposure to the store.
About that truck stop...
That's the same kind of optimism Brownmiller brings to his truck stop renovation, along with decades of experience in the trucking industry. He owns Le Mars-based Brownmiller Leasing and Transportation Inc., a long-haul operator in 48 states.
Although the bypass will claim many of the roughly 1,600 trucks that pass his Le Mars Truck Stop each day, Brownmiller isn't worried.
"We have 600 to 800 trucks a week delivering to, or pulling out of, Le Mars," he said. "I'm depending more on local business than bypass business." Even while closed during remodeling and before tearing up the parking lot for the relocation of the diesel fuel pumps, Brownmiller said 25 to 50 cars and trucks a day pulled in wanting to buy fuel.
And, he said, "We know a lot of trucking companies who will cater to us. They'll come off the bypass to get to us."
Brownmiller is also enthusiastic about the bypass itself.
"It'll bring a lot more traffic from the Minneapolis area along the bypass and to the city. Wherever you've got traffic you've got people with needs," he said.
And, just a bypass exit away, there are businesses hoping to meet them.
In September the Le Mars businessman bought the defunct truck stop/cafe on the big curve of U.S. Highway 75 in Le Mars, even as the Iowa Department of Transportation was finishing work on a four-lane bypass that will take much of the busy route's truck traffic from his door, whisking it instead around the west side of town, nonstop.
The bypass is nearly finished and is on track to open by Thanksgiving if the weather cooperates.
Many of the 70 or so business owners along what will become Business 75 -- about a 3-miles stretch of road -- aren't as confident as Brownmiller that business will be good. They say the IDOT has told them to expect a drop-off of up to 30 percent for the first year. But also that traffic counts will rebound over five years as the bypass draws more travelers to the area in general.
Gas, food expect to lose
Exactly what each business is doing to counter the coming drop in "drive-through" traffic depends not only what type of business they're in, but also on their attitude.
Some owners are in the wait-and-and-see camp. "I don't make decisions on what might happen," said Dennis Bollin, owner of Oak `N' Treasures, a furniture and appliances store just north of the main, Highway 3 intersection on Business 75. Bollin said he personally can't afford to move out to the bypass. But he knows that a few businesses will and that other, new businesses, will start up there.
"Time will tell," Bollin added. "There could be something happen that will make it better for us."
He spoke out early against the bypass. A certain amount of his business is sales to passersby -- from Omaha and Lincoln, Naples, Fla., Phoenix and Minneapolis. They noticed his window displays while driving past or walking out of the Ice Cream Capital of the World Visitors Center across the street. "Even if it's a 10 or 15 percent (loss), that's significant," he said.
Others, like Myles Kass, owner of the 57-year-old landmark Bob's Drive-Inn, began aggressive countermeasures several years ago. "You're either busy living or you're busy dying," he quips.
Bob's, just two doors south of Bollin's at Highways 75 and 3, expanded and redecorated its dining room and added a deck five years ago, even before the first earth moving contract was let on the bypass.
"We tried to get more people off the highway to try our business and to know who we are," explained Nathan Kass, who operates Bob's. "Then maybe we can get them off the bypass a couple times when they're driving through." He said while the seasonal drive-in is largely supported by the community, business jumps 30 percent on weekends. He hopes they can hang on after traffic counts fall, and survive until they build back up.
For more insurance, the Kasses opened a second Bob's Drive-Inn four years ago at Lake Okoboji. This year they are building a year-around steak house at the south end of the Business 75 strip.
Just south of the big curve on Business 75, Dave Petter, owner of the Le Mars Dairy Queen for 18 years, said he's uncertain how much business the bypass will cost him. He is skeptical that it will help, adding that the IDOT said that it would, but didn't have proof. "There's only so much remodeling can help," he said.
Petter said his regulars will continue to stop, but attracting new business will be tough.
Hardees assistant district manager, Autumn Hartwig, said her restaurant is committed to staying where it is, in the strip center with the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and the Welcome Center. Those entities have also committed to stay and plan to draw traffic in with signs on the bypass.
Roger "Chico" Kanne, of Carroll, Iowa, owns the Break Pointe BP gas station at Highway 3 and Business 75, across from Bob's. "I don't see (the bypass) as a positive for us," he said. "We are looking at a few different approaches to the business. We've got some things in the works I can't talk about right now. We have to do something. In our business, it's location, location, people, people."
A clerk at the local Casey's General Store said simply, "I think we're gonna lose a lot of business."
Surprisingly, Movie Gallery manager Sue Spence said she expects the bypass to cost her some business. She said truckers and railroad workers set up accounts at the store and stop by on their way through town to pick up and return rented movies.
Not too worried
"I can't see that it will hurt our business," said Steve Ohm, co-owner of the Motor Inn car dealership at the north end of Business 75. He said he doesn't think the showroom needs the visibility that the bypass would offer to be successful.
"I consider our business more of a destination," he said. "If people are car shopping, people are going to get off the bypass and see what we have." And, he noted, 67 percent of car shoppers research on the Internet before they look in person.
The company does a lot of pick-up and drop-off repair business for Wells' Dairy employees, he said. But moving closer to the new headquarters building on the bypass would mean longer hauls into town for plant workers' vehicles.
At the nearby O'Reilly Auto Parts store, manager Denny Kowalke said his business is mostly local. He said the back of the store is visible from the bypass, so he may paint a big sign on it to remind passing traffic it's there. But he's not planning a move.
Arlen Schapp is, however. The manager of Midwest Implement, a John Deere dealership, said he believes visibility is important to sales. It's not so much for existing customers, but for those from other areas who might drive by and see something they need, he said. The company already owns land on the bypass and will build a new facility there one day.
Schapp said their current facility needs too much updating to be cost effective and the firm needs more display space, so the move makes sense.
Hotels feeling secure
Patty Schiff, manager of the Amber Inn motel, isn't a bit worried about the soon-to-decrease traffic flow past the 70-room facility and isn't even planning any additional advertising. She said the motel's low rates -- $36 for a single and $59 for a suite -- will keep the construction workers, tower workers, grain bin builders, older travelers and other regulars coming in.
The locally-owned Amerihost Inn & Suites doesn't rely much on drive-through traffic, either, according to general manager Leah Johnson. She said most of their customers are corporate visitors in town to see Wells' Dairy, Harkers, Bodeans Baking Co., or call on the hospital. She said most of the walk-in traffic is corporate people who don't think they need a reservation since it's only Le Mars. "Then they find out we're sold out."
Oh, happy day
Not every merchant is dreading the opening of the bypass. Those who cater mostly to the locals are looking forward to it.
"It will be the most wonderful moment of my life," said Ken Nelson, owner of Le Mars Flower House and Greenhouse for 36 years. "Our clientele tends to be older and this is the craziest highway to get on and off of right now."
Nelson said the store may lose some holiday drive-through customers, but will gain more with a less-busy road out front. He lives in the house which is attached to the flower shop and even he have a hard time getting in and out.
"I've seen the highway get busier and busier to the point of distraction," he said. "At 2 in the morning the traffic is still rolling. The truck traffic is horrendous."
Unlike the Flower House, the LongLines Wireless store is new in town. Sales manager Cindy Richter said she was well aware the bypass was coming when she chose to put the store right next to Big Apple Bagel in the Visitors Center strip at Business 75 and Highway 3. She had looked downtown and out near Wal-Mart but liked the highway location better.
"I just felt this is where a lot of things are happening and we wanted to be here," she said. "We are looking for something that's convenient to the people of Le Mars. If they need to run in quick, we're right here." And, she said, being near the ice cream parlor will bring some outside exposure to the store.
About that truck stop...
That's the same kind of optimism Brownmiller brings to his truck stop renovation, along with decades of experience in the trucking industry. He owns Le Mars-based Brownmiller Leasing and Transportation Inc., a long-haul operator in 48 states.
Although the bypass will claim many of the roughly 1,600 trucks that pass his Le Mars Truck Stop each day, Brownmiller isn't worried.
"We have 600 to 800 trucks a week delivering to, or pulling out of, Le Mars," he said. "I'm depending more on local business than bypass business." Even while closed during remodeling and before tearing up the parking lot for the relocation of the diesel fuel pumps, Brownmiller said 25 to 50 cars and trucks a day pulled in wanting to buy fuel.
And, he said, "We know a lot of trucking companies who will cater to us. They'll come off the bypass to get to us."
Brownmiller is also enthusiastic about the bypass itself.
"It'll bring a lot more traffic from the Minneapolis area along the bypass and to the city. Wherever you've got traffic you've got people with needs," he said.
And, just a bypass exit away, there are businesses hoping to meet them.
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