HARDIN, Mont. — Love's Travel Stops & Country Stores has opened its first travel stop in Montana, near the community of Hardin along Interstate 90, expanding the company's reach to 429 stops in 41 states.
The new location, built at a cost of $10 million, features an 11,000-sq.-ft. travel stop, six diesel islands, 70 parking spaces for professional drivers, and six fuel islands for motorists.
The stop does not have a Love's Truck Tire Care facility on site.
The Montana store is Love's 19th travel stop to open in 2017. The company in January vowed to open 50 stops this year, after opening 47 in 2016.
Of the new locations opened this year, seven have Truck Tire Care facilities, expanding that option to more than 265 locations, most of which also are adding light mechanical and oil change offerings.
By year-end, Love's said it expects to have more than 300 Love's Truck Tire Care sites in operation, all offering oil change and maintenance capabilities.
Most locations with tire care also offer TirePass, Love's system that measures tire pressure and automatically inflates low tires to the desired pressure.
Love's also now offers truckers the option of buying retreads at any Truck Tire Care facility. Love's opened its own retread plant last year using Michelin North America Inc.'s Oliver system.
The retread offering complements the truck stop chain's new tire portfolio, which includes Aeolus, BFGoodrich, Bridgestone, Continental, Firestone, Goodyear, Michelin and Yokohama.
Love's other new travel centers opened since Jan. 1 are in: Moore Haven, Fla.; Macon, Ga.; Greenup and Knoxville, Ill.; Chanute, Cunningham and South Hutchinson, Kan.; Hagerstown, Md.; Syracuse, Neb.; Springfield and Upper Sandusky, Ohio; Angleton, Arlington, Hereford, Paris and Sinton, Texas; Brigham City, Utah; and Prosser, Wash.
The centers in Brigham City, Hagerstown, Macon, Prosser, Springfield and Upper Sandusky have Truck Tire Care centers.
As is customary with Love's Travel Centers, the company donated $2,000 at each new location to a local school or charity.