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By Charlotte Reames

West Point is welcoming the country’s largest Love’s Truck Stop station to date at exit 2 just off of the interstate. The LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce held a packed-out ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new location on Wednesday.

“They really showed us the love by coming here,” said West Point City Council member Sandra Thornton.

Love’s General Manager Jonathan Craig thanked the community for its support as they have worked to open the new location. West Point Mayor Steve Tramell said during the ribbon cutting that the city and citizens have been waiting for the station for a year.

“We so appreciate your being here,” Tramell said to Craig.

Craig said just since they’ve been open, the crowd they have seen has exceeded their expectations.

“It took all of five minutes for the parking lot to fill up,” Craig said during the ribbon cutting.

The brand-new facility has introduced four new companies to West Point and Troup County. Within the new Love’s station are Hardee’s and Godfather’s fast food restaurants. The Speedco center around the back of the station opens 30 days after Love’s opens its doors.

At its opening, Love’s has hired 140 local employees to man the facility. Craig said the station had over 1,500 applications for hire from the community.

Tramell and Councilmember Jerry Ledbetter said they expect Love’s to be the number one revenue-producing retail establishment in the county.

In the front, Love’s Truck Stop has 18 gasoline fueling stations, two of which have diesel exhaust fluid (DEF) pumps, and 17-23 diesel stations equipped with DEF pumps.

“This will open doors as truckers come through, and they see the area,” Thornton said. “Hopefully, they’ll see how fine West Point is and decide, ‘Well, I just might stay.’”

Craig said once the business has settled in, they anticipate pumping about a million gallons of diesel a month and between 60,000 to 70,000 gallons of gasoline a week.

“As far as revenue inside sales, it’s hard to tell at this point,” Craig said. “Right now, we’re starting off at a really good point — better than what we expected.”

Thornton said the station also offers RV hookups for travelers, which she said will be great for those heading to West Point Lake.

West Point travelers celebrated the ribbon-cutting day with gasoline prices of $2.69 per gallon.

“This is the largest Love’s that’s in the country, and for it to just be here in little old West Point, Georgia, we are so truly to blessed,” Thornton said.