Love's Travel Stop brings 100 jobs

LAMBSBURG — The opening of the Love's Travel Stop at Interstate 77 Exit is in the rearview mirror, but Carroll officials see more development ahead.
Officials from Carroll County, Hillsville and the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce joined Raymont Gordon, Love's general manager for the Lambsburg location, on Monday morning not only to celebrate the opening of the truck stop, but also the interstate interchange just north of Virginia's border with North Carolina.

Christopher Brooke

Raymont Gordon, general manager of the Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores off Interstate 77 Exit 1 in Lambsburg, looks happy as he's surrounded by Carroll County and Carroll County Chamber of Commerce for Monday's ribbon cutting at the facility that represents a $5.5 million investment in Southern Carroll.

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Love's — located at the long-undeveloped interchange in Southern Carroll — symbolizes the early success of the county's strategy to bring new business in by focusing on getting water and sewer service to the undeveloped Interstate 77 exits here.
"Exit 1 is a 'diamond in the rough,' today," said supervisors' Chairman Wes Hurst during his remarks.
He didn't see the gathering as just a ribbon cutting for Love's, but as something that benefits the entire area.
With the truck stop came three new commercial businesses to Lambsburg, including the McDonald's and the Subway franchises inside, Hurst noted. Their arrival in Southern Carroll brought with them more than 100 jobs and more than $5.5 million in new investment.
These new businesses will help build the tax base and provide jobs in the county, he said.
"Think about the commitment that these people have made to this area to make their business work," Hurst urged.
"We can't thank you all enough — we are very pleased to have Love's Travel Stops and Country Stores as a new member of the Carroll County landscape and feel as if this is only the beginning of the development at Exit 1."
Speaking for the public service authority, Chairman Andy Jackson said the county board and the authority wanted to work as a team from the start to prepare areas of the county "for economic development and prosperity."
To make it possible for businesses to hit Exit 1, the authority invested $900,000 in improving the water and sewer facilities, Jackson said. More work is on the way, though.
"We still have future capacity and feel certain that there will be more to come in development…" he added. "We are working very hard with Mount Airy, N.C., to develop a sustainable water source and hope the fruits of that effort will be harvested soon and that will ensure greater development in this area."
This work at Exit 1 as well as water and sewer system work in Woodlawn, in Fancy Gap's Exit 8 and for Wildwood Commerce Park at Exit 19 makes Carroll's "the fastest growing authority in the Commonwealth of Virginia," Jackson said.
"You know, smell those fumes off these tractor-trailers," said Carroll Supervisor Manus McMillian, the Fancy Gap District representative, pointing to the nearby service areas. "You know what that smells like? It smells like money."
People always are saying to county officials, don't raise taxes, he noted.
"Well, there's only one way you don't raise taxes," McMillian said. "The only way to do that is you raise your revenue."
Exit 1 has been like a sleeping giant, from an economic development perspective, the supervisor said. He recognized the potential back when he was a candidate for the office.
"This is a wonderful day for Love's, for Lambsburg, all of Cana and all of Carroll County," McMillian said. "It's just a godsend."
Wait and see what happens next, the supervisor concluded.
Gordon took the opportunity to make donations to two community groups. He handed $1,000 checks to Lambsburg Community Center Chairman Phillip Berrier and Cana Fire Department Chief Richard Sowers to benefit their respective organizations.
"I never really believed I could ever stay in my home and see a McDonald's sign from here in Lambsburg," Berrier said. "It's a great accomplishment…"
The Love's contribution will go towards paying for the recently completed work on the Frank Hawks Memorial Park by the non-profit Lambsburg organization, he said. The group hopes to open a community library soon.
After that, the local officials and company representative cut a ribbon in front of the Love's main entrance.
After the ribbon cutting, Gordon said that Love's has 35 employees of its own, and adding the other vendors increases the job impact to about 100.
Business at the new location has exceeded expectations. "We're very pleased with the amount of traffic that we get and on weekends it's quite busy."