FRANKLIN, Tenn. -- Although apparently no bankruptcy has been filed, and business was reportedly growing at least one location, Horizon Travel Plazas LLC has closed several of its 24 facilities, including two Jackson, Tenn., stores, a former general manager confirmed for The Jackson Sun last week. The other sites are located throughout the Southeast, the report said.
Sharon Hardy, general manager with the company until it closed the two stores, said the decision came as a surprise to her. "We went to work as usual," she told the newspaper. "And then we got the information that U-Hauls [image-nocss] were coming in, and the people in charge of the company came out and packed things up, and that was it for the two stores in Jackson."
Hardy said she was notified that she still has a future with the company. "I hope so," she said. "They were such a good group of people to work with. They are fantastic."
Doug Huges, who was removing the company's ATM from the Hollywood Travel Center, told the paper that the decision to close the stores was made at least a week ago. "We had to go and get ATMs at about six stores," he said. "Some were in Georgia and some in Arkansas."
The Cordele Dispatch in Cordele, Ga., said that the Horizon location there has closed, approximately six months after opening. “Store employees here said their volumes had been increasing every week,” developer Don Adkins told the paper. “So I don 't think the local economy was the problem. In fact, I 've already had several phone calls from possible tenants who are interested in the building. As soon as Horizon works out its problems, the store should reopen.”
Yellow caution tape was placed at the entrances and gasoline pump islands at both Jackson locations, said the report. Drink coolers were empty and food shelves were barren. Some shelves have been disassembled and stacked on the floor next to cardboard boxes waiting to be filled for shipping.
As of last Wednesday, the company had not filed for bankruptcy in either the western or middle district federal courts of Tennessee, nor in Delaware, according to court clerks in each district contacted by the Sun.
Horizon Travel Plazas purchased the five acres for the Hollywood Travel Center in April 2006 for $3.8 million, according to the Madison County Register of Deeds cited by the paper. The other extended property is 1.66 acres and was sold to NG 340 Parkstone LLC by Gary Taylor for $2.55 million in December, added the report.Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.