With more than 100,000 visitors expected to flood the county, Gordonsville Keystop prepares to feed hungry eclipse viewers.
By Erin Rigik Del Conte, Senior Editor
On Monday, Aug. 21, America is set to experience its first total solar eclipse since 1979, and eclipse chasers are expected to be out in droves to watch the event, especially along what’s being called the “path of totality”—that cuts through 12 states, from Oregon to South Carolina—where the total eclipse will be visible.
Convenience stores along the path are busy preparing for a huge influx of customers.
Gordonsville Keystop, which is located right off Interstate 40 in Gordonsville, Tenn., about 50 miles East of Nashville, is one such convenience store situated along the prime eclipse viewing path.
“The Chamber of Commerce says there will be between 100,000 to 200,000 people here (in Smith County). I have trouble believing that because the county only has 20,000 people. It’s a small county, so if it happens there are going to be people everywhere,” said George Gebhardt, owner of Gordonsville Keystop. The increased traffic is almost certain to be great for business.
Gebhardt explained that the totality—or darkest part—of the eclipse is expected to last two minutes and 40 seconds. The eclipse is expected to begin around 12 p.m. and end about 3 p.m. with total darkness hitting around 1:30 p.m.
The county set up a number of viewing locations in the neighborhood, including at the local fairgrounds, a few churches and a local park.
“They’ve asked for anyone who has extra parking space to make it available,” Gebhardt said, adding that his c-store parking lot will be available as an eclipse viewing spot.
“I don’t expect there will be much traffic moving when the eclipse gets toward darkness,” he said. He expects to see the biggest surge in customers in the morning leading up to the big event.
Food Ready
Gordonsville Keystop has been in business since 1997. When Gebhardt acquired the property it housed an old service station, which he tore down and replaced with the 2,500-square foot Gordonsville Keystop convenience store. The store originally offered Mobil gas, but is in the process of converting to BP.
Gordonsville Keystop has offered a Hunt Brothers Pizza program since day one, which takes up about 400 feet of space within the store and includes two pizza ovens for maximum speed of service. “We were one of Hunt Brothers’ very early customers,” he said. Gordonsville Keystop was one of 25 stores that received a pizza shoppe makeover from Hunt Brothers Pizza in celebration of its 25th anniversary last year.
With such a huge increase in guests to the county, Gebhardt is expecting a flood of hungry customers on Monday, and he’s expecting the pizza program to be a big asset in helping the store satisfy the eclipse viewers. To help him prepare, Hunt Brothers Pizza made an early delivery on Thursday, stocking the site’s big walk-in freezer with extra pizza products.
“They are willing to help us do anything they can help us do,” he said. “This sounds funny but ‘we’re all in the dark,’ as far as what is going to happen on Monday, but I expect a big pizza business if we have all of those people.”
Gordonsville Keystop usually does a large volume of pizza sales on a normal day, and Gebhardt is prepared to sell out. “I would say on Monday, we’ll probably sell 100-200 pizzas, which might not sound that big if you’re a pizza place, but it’s big if you’re a c-store.”
Because they’re not far from Hunt Brothers’ distribution center in Nashville, he’s not worried about his Tuesday pizza business, as it would be easy to get more product in time. “The best thing would be if we sold out of pizzas on Monday,” he said.
In addition to Hunt Brothers’ pizza, breakfast pizza and wing bites, the store will also be prepared to serve the usual c-store foodservice fare, such as corndogs, egg rolls, hamburgers and hot dogs. “But by far our biggest sales dollars are in pizza,” he said.
Gebhardt also worked with his c-store distributor H.T. Hackney to get extra product in stock in advance of the eclipse, so that customers who stop in are sure to find what they need.
With extra inventory on hand, Gebhardt feels ready for whatever Monday brings.
Final Preparations
“They are saying people will be out early finding their place to view,” Gebhardt said, and he’s hoping that means a lot of customers will stop in for breakfast pizza.
“Starting fairly early in the morning—and especially in Nashville—they are predicting tremendous traffic jams. Police are saying not to stop on the interstate. This has never happened around here, so they’re trying to be really ready for it,” he said. “We will have a couple extra employees here (on Monday), and we’re trying to get them here early in case there is a gridlock in traffic.”
By Friday, Gordonsville Keystop was completely sold out of eclipse viewing glasses, having sold through more than 800 pairs.
“Amazon, who supplied to lots of people, had a recall on most of their glasses because they weren’t sure they were certified. That caused lots of problems and pretty well everyone here is out of glasses. We sold our glasses for $1.30 a pair. I understand back in Nashville now—for those stores that have them—they are bringing in $20 a pair.”