GOOD HOPE, Ala. – A crowd of local elected officials and representatives from all over Cullman County gathered near the 305 exit on County Road 222 to celebrate a new business making its way into the community. The City of Good Hope and its council hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Love’s Travel Stop & Country Store and Mayor Jerry Bartlett is excited to bring this new addition to Good Hope.
“Love’s is a great company. If you go anywhere around Alabama and stop at a Love’s store you know it’s going to be clean, the bathrooms are going to be neat and the food is going to be good so we’re just proud to bring all the jobs that are going to be associated with them and help our community. They’re going to be a great addition to our community,” Bartlett said. “Love’s is going to have a country store, they’ll have a dog wash, they’re going to have a tire store, they’ll have a truck wash which is something new that Love’s is doing so they’ll have a few new things here that you may have not seen in other Love’s stores.”
Cullman County Commission Chairman Jeff Clemons shared a few words with those in attendance as well, expressing his own excitement for the economic impact this new Love’s location can have.
“It’s a great day for all of Cullman County, especially Good Hope. Think about the impact this Love’s is going to have for Cullman County with the revenue coming in. It’s all about growth and a partnership and it’s amazing how many great leaders we have in Cullman County and I’ll say Dale (Greer) is an ambassador for Cullman County with all the growth the city has had so now its spreading out,” Clemons said. “It makes my job a lot easier because I have a lot of great leadership around me in every aspect of county government. So, like I said this is a great day because Love’s is going to be massive for Cullman County because I think there’s going to be at least 1,000 trucks a day coming off the interstate so anytime that happens it brings a lot of revenue to our county. That’s what it takes to make Cullman County better and its truly an honor to work with so many great people because that’s how we’re successful is working together.”
Love’s Real Estate Senior Project Manager Bill Gleason wrapped up the public comments and talked about the jobs the new location would bring as well as the potential tax revenue the truck stop could generate.
“Over 40 years ago I came down to Alabama for the first time with my soon to be bride and it was a different Alabama 40-45 years ago than what we have today. Like they said we’re going to be pulling roughly 1,000 trucks a day off the interstate and all that is tax money that’s going up and down 65 that wouldn’t be stopping here if it wasn’t for the Love’s. Now, because there is a shortage of truck parks in all our 48 states, we’re going to add another 100 places for trucks to park and get them off the interstate ramps. What you’ll have here is once we build it, this thing won’t have wheels. It can’t be moved to China, and it can’t be moved to Mexico so these 50-55 jobs that Love’s is going to create plus the 50 or so jobs that McDonalds is going to create are going to be here. Whether we’re selling gasoline, diesel, whether its EVs or hydrogen or whatever fuel is in the future, you’ve got to have a place to pull off, get fuel and get back on the road,” Gleason said. “It’s really been a pleasure to work with the city, the county and the State of Alabama and ADECA and it’s just been a total win-win for Love’s and for the municipalities. We love locating in small cities where we make a big difference to their tax revenue.”
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