Love's Travel Stop to open in Ritzville

RITZVILLE - The national travel center chain Love's is set to open its Ritzville location in a couple of weeks, company officials said recently.

Work at the Love's Travel Stop and Country Store, just off Interstate 90, is almost complete and motorists will be able to stop for fuel, food and other items beginning Oct. 31, Vice President of Communications Jenny Love Meyer said Wednesday.

"This location will have all the amenities the traveling public needs, whether they're professional truckers or regular motorists," she said.

The approximately 9,680 square-foot travel center will feature unleaded and diesel pumps, a convenience store and a Carl's Jr. fast-food restaurant, Meyer said. The Ritzville location will also offer a tire care center, which will open in December, where drivers can get their tires repaired or changed, she said.

While there are currently about 170 tire care centers at Love's locations around the country, the Ritzville tire care center is a little different, Meyer said.

"This will be one of the first buildings set up like this, where it's going to be a completely separate building," she said. "It's more extensive than what we're doing in the rest of the country."

Love's currently operates more than 290 locations in 39 states, according to their website. Meyer said the company looks at a number of factors when deciding where their next travel center will be built.

"Our philosophy is we build locations along interstate highways and we look at proximity to other Love's locations, traffic on a particular highway or the volume of traffic and accesses to that location," she said. "All those impact the decision."

Meyer also said the new Ritzville location will create about 40 to 55 jobs for the area.