Wally Kennedy: New Zip's in works on South Madison
Oct. 23—It's amazing how something you had heard about months ago is now coming true.
I had heard that a car wash was coming to the property between X-Treme Powersports, 1301 S. Madison Ave. in Webb City, and the Commerce Bank building south of the property. At the time, it seemed like a good place for a car wash, but nothing happened.
Well, something is happening, and it's not the only thing that is happening on South Madison.
A while back, Shane Burns, with X-Treme Powersports and Burns Investments, a family business, sold the southern part of the X-Treme Powersports property to Zip's Car Wash, where a new, state-of-the-art car wash will be built.
"It's a great location," Burns said. "This car wash will be the first one of its kind."
As you might recall, Zip's Car Wash took over the Tommy's Express Car Wash, 1530 S. Range Line Road, in Joplin, in April. Zip's will now have two locations on the Range Line-Madison corridor. That's not all. The southwest corner of Seventh Street and Madison Avenue, property owned by Burns Investments, has been sold to Scooter's Coffee. Earth movers broke ground for the new shop earlier this week. It will be directly south of the new Domino's pizza shop.
Scooter's Coffee was founded in 1998 at Bellevue, Nebraska. There are now nearly 300 stores operating across 17 states, including stores in Carthage and Pittsburg, Kansas. Scooter's Coffee is striving to become the No. 1 drive-thru coffee franchise in the nation.
By the way, the U.S. coffee market is an estimated $48-billion-per-year industry that is recession-resistant. That's why these drive-thru coffee shops appear to be popping up everywhere.
The property south of the coffee shop also is owned by Burns Investments. It is being eyed for development.
Burns Investments also owns property south of the roundabout in Webb City's newest economic development zone, where Atwoods is located and a new Sleep Inn & Suites recently opened. To say that Burns is bullish on Webb City is an understatement.
"We believe that Webb City is going to continue to grow and that its future is bright," he said. "We have all of our eggs in this basket."
New home
The Wild Flower, a florist shop on East 32nd Street for 22 years, is moving to a new and more spacious home on Joplin's Main Street.
Justin Thomas, the owner, told me the movers will start working on Monday and that the new shop will be fully operational by Nov. 1. A holiday open house is planned for Nov. 6.
Hours will be from 8:30 to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Thomas said the new store, located at 2129 S. Main St., is much bigger than the previous one, which will provide more retail space for the shop's gift and home decor lines.
"The little house on 32nd Street served us well, but we needed more retail space and more parking," he said.
The shop, the former Pie Safe and before that the Cuttaway Hair Salon, was constructed after the 2011 tornado. Its exterior has been painted white with a black trim, and the interior is getting a complete makeover.
"It's going to be a completely different look," Thomas said. "We are going to offer Joplin a little bit more of the things we think it needs."
Thomas, who received his training at the design school at the University of the Kansas, said, "My best training has come from my customers. My customers have made me a better florist."
Ribbon cutting
A ribbon-cutting for the new office of Realty ONE Group Ovation, 2730 S. Range Line Road, will be held at 11:15 a.m. Friday.
The new office, owned by Hunter Perry, opened on Aug. 1 next door to the Hidden Acres restaurant.
The opening of the office and the recent construction of a new storefront for Caliber Collision Center has completely transformed this section of South Range Line. An opening for Caliber Collision is expected at any time.
Contact Wally Kennedy at wkennedy@joplinglobe.com.
