TA Lake City, Fl.

I think the trend that you've illustrated above is due to several factors. Among them.....

• Mom 'n' Pop grow old &/or pass away; the kids...&/or would-be owners elsewhere don't have the desire &/or the business savvy to take it over....& run it as before. Thus -- we sell it out to one of the major chains.
• I think it's getting more & more difficult for the mom-n-pops (that somehow are still in existence) to find, hire...& keep true quality help -- that will show up for work daily, do so on time, ready to actually do REAL work...& who can put the phone down long enough to consistently make customers consistently feel welcome.
• The trucking community did this to itself. Partly becuz good hired help is harder & harder to find (& keep) -- truck stops raise prices to stay profitable (also getting more difficult) -- & do away with amenities that we used to take for granted. Thus -- the stops that still remain are increasingly unable to clean up the mess/trash left behind by those drivers who don't respect/care for the property. I think that higher prices/pay parking will run off a lot of this riffraff that has a CDL nowadays (no offense intended -- to those who are & do otherwise).
• Most (all?) of the decision-makers at the major chains have never been/stayed at an old-school-cool truck stop -- & thus don't try to recreate the coziness that these homey, down-to-earth truck stops provided.

It will of course be interesting to see how the Dollywood world enters & navigates the truckstop business. I think she will do a better job at it than the major chains (duuuuhhhh -- her competition has actually set the bar pretty low) -- but I'm pretty skeptical that she will successfully & consistently re-create that old-school-cool look, feel -- & taste .

We shall see....

-- L