Businesses target community of Hollister

|tab|

Some new businesses are making Hollister their home. The Taney County town, 45 miles due south of Springfield on Highway 65, has a population of 3,867 and lies two miles south of Branson. |ret||ret||tab|

According to Vonnie Mathiesen, assistant city administrator, location and access are the primary reasons that Hollister is attracting businesses.|ret||ret||tab|

Hollister is named after another city, Hollister, Calif., which was the hometown of one of the Missouri towns founding fathers, said Rick Ziegenfuss, city administrator. Prior to its founding in 1904, the scatter of homesteads had no official name. It was incorporated as Hollister in 1910.|ret||ret||tab|

|ret||ret||tab|

Motorcycle Boulevard|ret||ret||tab|

Jeffery Zoellner opened up Motorcycle Boulevard in an existing building at 259 Birdcage Walk in mid-July. The 1,850-square-foot shop offers bike service and apparel. Ninety-nine percent of his business comes from the service side, Zoellner said, and the need for motorcycle repair, sales and service was the primary reason behind his expansion into Hollister.|ret||ret||tab|

The cost of moving into the new facility was $12,000 for remodeling, restocking and obtaining new equipment, Zoellner said. He and his two mechanics work out of 1,250 square feet, while the other 600 square feet is used for apparel and accessory sales. |ret||ret||tab|

Zoellner also owns a 1,400-square-foot Motorcycle Boulevard at 2855 W. Hwy. 76 in Branson. He opened the Branson store in April 2001, and his wife works there with two part-time employees. That shop sells motorcycle apparel exclusively.|ret||ret||tab|

Zoellner is scouting for yet another location. Were looking for a new building or ground to build a new building out on the highway, he said. |ret||ret||tab|

|ret||ret||tab|

Fastenal|ret||ret||tab|

Fastenal Company has added a seventh location to its southwest Missouri roster, said Russ Pendergraft, branch manager of the firms 4-month-old store at 128 Industrial Park Drive. Fastenal also operates stores in Neosho, Monett, Joplin, Lebanon and two in Springfield.|ret||ret||tab|

The publicly traded wholesale and retail business sells fasteners, industrial and welding supplies, nuts and bolts, safety equipment and power and hand tools, Pendergraft said. |ret||ret||tab|

Fastenal has 1,500 stores nationwide and generated 2002 revenues in excess of $750 million. Pendergraft, a three-year employee with the company, runs the 3,000-square-foot shop with two employees.|ret||ret||tab|

|ret||ret||tab|

Food Service Equipment|ret||ret||tab|

Near Fastenal, Food Service Equipment Brokers is operating its new second location at 103 Industrial Park Drive. The 10-year-old wholesale and retail restaurant equipment and supply seller has been in the new facility for about a month, said Karon Robbins, owner. The privately held companys home office is in Springdale, Ark.|ret||ret||tab|

We sell to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants anything that has food service in it. And we sell basically all it entails, Robbins said. Products displayed in its 5,000-square-foot warehouse range from walk-in coolers, freezers and hood systems, to tabletops, tableware, silverware and linens, she added. |ret||ret||tab|

Weve looked at the Hollister area for about five years, and theres really no place there that has a supply house, so to speak, Robbins said. She said her companys proximity to Bransons bevy of food establishments made the location logical. She worked with Jerry Kennedy of Carol Jones Realtors to find her location. |ret||ret||tab|

The company employs three at its Hollister location and 17 at its home office in Springdale, Robbins said. Most of the firms business is in wholesale sales; she declined to disclose annual revenues. |ret||ret||tab|

|ret||ret||tab|

Ozark Mountain Railcar|ret||ret||tab|

A unique business that has quietly been doing work in downtown Hollister for about a year and a half is Ozark Mountain Railcar. The business uses a stretch of railroad track in the heart of Hollister as an on-site railcar workshop, said Richard Suscheck, owner. The firm has its business office at 732 Skyline Drive in Forsyth.|ret||ret||tab|

The 5-year-old Internet-based brokerage business specializes in the repair and restoration of old passenger cars. The company handles internal and external work, including electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning for custom interiors, right down to couplers and wheels, Suscheck said. Its all up to the owners imagination. Suscheck charges $25 an hour plus expenses.|ret||ret||tab|

Some of (the railcars) are gutted, some of them are in very good condition that were just doing minor work to. Theyre in all various stages of restoration. Suscheck has up to five employees working with him throughout the year. Employee training is often in order, he added, as the necessary skills are lost trades. |ret||ret||tab|

Theres a surprisingly large market for repair work on these 60- to 80-ton behemoths. In the past, Suschecks staff has done electrical and generator work on George Bush Sr.s Pullman railcar, which was used during his presidential campaign. Other contracts include restorations of railcars belonging to preservation societies or out-of-service cars owned by rail operators. |ret||ret||tab|

Theres corporations that use these things for entertaining; private individuals use them for their own personal conveyance. Some people use them (and) put them on Amtrak and use them as a chartered car, they lease them out and run special excursions with them. |ret||ret||tab|

[[In-content Ad]]