The Lovable History Of Love's Travel Stops

Known for living up to its motto "Clean Places, Friendly Faces," Love's is one of the United States' major travel stops. There are about 600 Love's locations spread across 42 states, which is a testament to the brand's success. The history of Love's and its sprawling accomplishments aren't quite like that of other major gas stations chain in the country, though. Love's was far from the first real gas station in the nation, but its approach was unique, and the business is still notable today for these differences.

Originally known as Musket Corporation, the company we now know as Love's was founded in 1964 in Oklahoma when Tom and Judy Love opened up shop out of an abandoned gas station northwest of Oklahoma City. The pair wasn't satisfied with just selling fuel, however, and by the 1970s, they upgraded their operation to serve customers beyond the pump. They began offering groceries and other items at the station and called the new-and-improved location a country store. Now, whenever you stop to refuel on a road trip and run inside to buy a taquito or a bag of candy, remember that you have Love's to thank for such easy access to all your favorite non-fuel gas station products.

The changes Love's made to the concept of a gas station didn't stop at selling food, however. Over the last 60 years, the company has continued to iterate on the idea of a gas station that does more. This has meant breaking into repairs, fleet management, and even alternate fuel sources. All the while, Love's has remained a family-owned business with Tom and Judy Love's children still at the helm today.

It wasn't until 1981 that Love's opened the first location of what would one day become a wide network of travel stops. Located along I-40 in Amarillo, Texas, this location sought to serve truckers first and foremost, providing them with a friendly and pleasant place to refuel themselves and their trucks while on the road. As Love's travel stops spread across the country, the locations began adding more and more features, such as maintenance bays and even hot showers. Love's Truck Care now claims more than 1,300 maintenance bays across the country and offers tire care, roadside assistance, and other maintenance services.

Then, in the '90s, Love's Alternative Energy opened its doors. With a mission of making transportation more sustainable, this subgroup of the Love's brand focuses on supplying alternative fuels at various Love's locations. It largely supplies renewable natural gas and compressed natural gas, but it also maintains hydrogen fueling stations and electric vehicle charging stations. Love's Alternative Energy also provides solutions for on-site power generation and storage, as well as solar installations.

The fact that Love's has remained a family-owned business for over 60 years now makes it something of an oddity among gas station and travel stop brands in the United States (and most of the world, for that matter). You could be forgiven for looking at the prevalence of Love's stations across the nation and assuming that it's part of a giant conglomerate or multinational corporation. After all, Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, 7-Eleven, Chevron, Flying J, and TravelCenters of America are all massive publicly traded corporations or subsidiaries thereof.

Although founders Tom and Judy Love have now since passed away, the company's status as family owned doesn't seem to be in imminent danger. Their sons Greg and Frank Love are CEO and Co-CEO, respectively, and their daughter Jenny Love Meyer is the company's Chief Culture Officer and Executive Vice President. The family remains committed to enacting their predecessors' vision for the company as one that innovates and serves. Gas prices aren't coming down any time soon, and Love's doesn't have much say in the matter, but at least it eases my poor wallet's anxieties to know that filling up at Love's means supporting a family-owned company in an industry full of corporate giants.