Business

Ask Matt ... about gas prices, Atlanta Bread, 600 block

Dad's Collectibles owner Mark Ray plans to restore the old American Oil station in the 600 block of North Main Street.

By Bill Moss, Published: December 7, 2013

Q. What are they going to put in the old Atlanta Bread restaurant? They are gutting the whole building from wall to wall.

According to Mark Smith, the new owner of the Atlanta Bread Company building in Highland Square (Walmart), it will be a Mattress Firm store. The company, whose home office is in Houston, Texas, operates 700 stores, five of which are in the Asheville area. This would be their first Mattress Firm store in Henderson County. Mark will complete the renovations in January.

Q. Why is the price of gas at Ingles not the same at all their stores on the same day?
I posed this question to Ron Freeman, chief financial officer for Ingles Markets. "Like many other products in our stores, we have to take into account what our competition is doing," he said. I guess this would explain why on Nov. 15 the Web site gasbuddy.com showed a different gas price at each of the four Ingles Gas Express locations in the county. Prices for regular gas ranged from a low of $3.15 a gallon at the Mills River pumps to a high of $3.28 at the Highland Lake Road pumps. Also, the Fletcher Ingles posted $3.19 and the Howard Gap Road location posted gas for $3.24 a gallon. Ingles has seven food stores in Henderson County. Lucky for us that they don't have seven different prices for bananas.

Q. I heard that they are going to re-do the old gas station in the 600 block of Main Street. Who's doing that?
That would be Mark Ray. He manages Dad's Collectibles, a shop just a few blocks further south on Main Street and was also the driving force behind the restoration of the McClintock clock. The idea is a complete facade renovation that will bring back the 1960s look to the former American Oil (later Amoco) gas station. Mark will use the double-bay building for auto restoration (but no gasoline sales). The building was last occupied by the Tint Barn and is diagonally across from the City's new fountain. As an added touch of 1960s nostalgia, at Mark's urging the Coca-Cola Co. has agreed to repaint the original red and white Coca-Cola logo on the outside wall of the Higgins print shop next door. It would be sweet if we could bring back those 1960 prices too.
Q. Did they finally sell the old Plants Direct greenhouse on NC 191?
Yes, the extensive 65,000-square-foot greenhouse and office building on Haywood Road along with eight acres of land was sold to Gaia Herbs for a cool $1.225 million. Gaia Herbs is a grower and manufacturer of herbal products and operates a facility and farm in Transylvania County. "It was a very successful sale with both seller and buyer pleased," said Amy Bates of Williams & Williams Auction Company. The Nov. 22 auction was advertised as an absolute sale, which means that the seller cannot decline to sell if the bidding is too low. These type sales typically bring out the most serious bidders. The property had been on the market for three years. Gaia Herbs will be the third owner since the Van Wingerden family built the warehouse. At this time, the buyer has not disclosed any future plans for the property.
The Williams & Williams Auction Company, with corporate offices in Tulsa, OK, operates nationwide. Ms. Bates shared that in 2010 the company handled the auction of the Silverdome (former home of the Detroit Lions) in Pontiac, Michigan and last year it auctioned the town of Buford, Wyoming (population one). It went for $900k.

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Send us your questions about a local issue, event, sighting or anything that is puzzling you and we'll try to get an answer. Email Matt at: askmattm@gmail.com.