In the next year, Fort Scott residents will have access to a new convenience store at the south end of town. According to Pete’s #14 owner Grant Spears, Pete’s has purchased the old Bailes Auto Sales building just north of the store and plans to expand into that area. “We’re going to build a new, modern convenience store facility just north of our existing store,” Spears said. Spears explained that the new building will cover 4,600 square feet and that the new filling station will contain 16 hoses for gasoline fueling and 2 hoses for “high-volume diesel fueling.”
Of the start date for work on the project, Spears said, “We’re hoping to get started as soon as possible, but no later than October 1st.”
Spears said that normal operations will go on during construction. “We will operate simultaneously and there will be very little disruption for our customers,” Spears said. “We hope to be open [in the new location] in the spring. That’s kind of our target.”
Pete’s is a good company, but we need a Casey’s, and thus some fuel price competition like Pittsburg is experiencing. Gas prices in Pittsburg currently sit at just under 25 cents a gallon cheaper than Fort Scott. Mark Shead needs to buy a viable piece of land and sell it to Casey’s.
Pete’s does Fort Scott a huge favor by locating in town. The employees are helpful to funnel folks passing through to visit the Fort and downtown, eat in our restaurants and to sleep in Fort Scott.
Those units on the highway outside of Fort Scot bleed our economy of dining, shopping and possible overnight stays.