The end of full service

By CANDACE CHASE/Daily Inter Lake

At 6 p.m. today, the Kalispell Conoco gas station on the corner of Idaho and Third Avenue East North next to Smith's closes its doors on a history that began in 1941.

"As far as I know, this is the only service station in Montana that is full service," owner Bob Watne said.

Watne said he tried to sell the business that leases the station from Dallas Herron of Herron Development, but none of his prospects panned out. He planned to begin moving out some of his equipment today.

"I can't imagine a gas station ever coming back," Watne said.

For the last 67 years, a customer could pull up and have his or her gas tank filled, windows washed, oil checked and any repairs made at that one location. According to Watne, slow business this summer meant the station couldn't survive the lean winter months.

"A lot of it's economic-based," he said. "People are paying so much for gas and groceries that they aren't fixing things."

Watne, who owns Conoco Car Care Center along with his wife, Beth, said the station doesn't make money on the gas but on the repair business. He said he has lost 2 to 3 cents per gallon at times but was able to survive on the volume of repairs.

"We've got the best mechanics in the valley," he said.

The station suffered a terminal blow with the combination of the huge run-up in wholesale gas prices and the loss of the station's reader board, which drew customers in for air-conditioning fixes, radiator flushes and other specials.

"But you don't see the government coming to bail me out," he said with a rueful laugh.

City regulations may have contributed to his demise.

Watne said Conoco took down the reader board when the company replaced the old sign about a year ago. When the board wasn't immediately replaced, he said the repair business dropped off.

He tried putting out sandwich boards on the high traffic corner.

"But those signs aren't legal in the city," he said.

Watne said the knockout blow came when the price of gas went through the roof and he couldn't afford to buy a tanker load. That meant he lost his discount and couldn't compete with stations owned by larger concerns such as the Cenex station across the street.

"I've seen a full load go from $30,000 to $35,000 up to $50,000," he said. "When we order a smaller load, we get charged the same as farmers."

As an example, the Cenex Kum & Go advertised regular unleaded at $3.05 on Tuesday while the Conoco's last price was $3.65. The station was out of gas several days ago but still had a small amount of diesel offered at $4.10 per gallon.

Many customers drive by when they see the price difference but some took the trouble to come in and express their opinion.

"We get chewed out all the time," Watne said. "They can't believe we're paying so much."

But the station had a loyal following, particularly among women, the elderly and some handicapped people who have difficulty pumping their own gas. Watne said the station was a lifesaver for some elderly women when their husbands - who always filled the tank - passed away.

"We've had ladies in tears out at the gas pumps," he said. "We had one this morning in tears."

Watne, a former county commissioner, said the decision to close the station was a difficult one for himself and his wife. He feels bad about another landmark disappearing from Kalispell, where he was born and raised.

"It's kind of a dying breed, mom-and-pop operations," he said. "We hate to see it go."

Watne wasn't certain who started the station. Previous owners included Clarence Reed, his son Dave and Lynn Tripp, who sold the station to the Watnes about three years ago.

"It was Russ and Don's Conoco when I was in high school," he said. "I worked at Bolster's Union 76 across the street - that was about 1966."

One mechanic, Bob Tuck, has worked for the station for 35 years through five owners.

Tuck wasn't optimistic about finding a job in the slow months of the winter. He figured that he would have to collect unemployment until things pick up in the spring.

He said he has seen a huge change in the work coming through the station's big bay doors during his three decades. In the early days, he performed multiple tune-ups and wheel packs but now Tuck fixes lots of computer and sensor-related car troubles.

"When I started, you never saw a car with 100,000 miles on it," he said with a laugh. "Now you rarely see any under 100,000."

Ironically, Watne said the station has experienced a surge in repair work as word of the closure filtered out to customers. But it's too little, too late.

No more will an attendant spring into action when a car rolls over the black hose, triggering that "ding, ding" of days gone by. As the Conoco Car Care Center goes black, Watne and his wife plan to head south for their winter home in Wickenburg, Ariz.

He said they love the friendly people and the Old West ethic that horses still have the right-of-way on the street.

"As soon as we get closed out, we're out of here," he said. "We'll be back next summer."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com.