New store

It won't be long until Odessa has two new Kent Kwik stores, both of which will have some extras.

The first store is under construction on Andrews Highway. Bill Kent of the Kent Companies said it would open around April 1.

The facility will include an Avis Lube oil change center. Kent said it would replace the AvisLube currently operating across from the Ector County Coliseum.

"We've had the land for a while," Kent said. "We've kind of outgrown the space on the Avis Lube."

The roomier facility will have three bays for cars to be worked on, compared to the current two, Kent said. It will also have a play area for children and a business area with computers for grownups.

J.B. Kingston said he comes from Midland just to have his oil changed at the current location. But he's looking forward to having a place where traffic moves faster, and his grandchildren can play.

"It'll be a good deal," he said. "How could it not be?"

The Kent Kwik convenience store, which will be next door but not connected to Avis Lube, will have a Mr. Payroll check cashing service and a drive-through at which customers can get anything in the store. Kent said it would not be "co-branded" with a restaurant.

"We don't really have quite enough room," he said.

That won't be the case with another store he will build at the intersection of Billy Hext Road and Eastridge Road. Kent said it will sell Baskin Robbins ice cream.

Kent is still in the process of getting bids on that location.

The company is also planning to start work on a Huddle House restaurant in Kermit after the first of the year, the second in the area. Kent brought the Atlanta chain's first Permian Basin restaurant to Monahans last fall.

After that, Kent hopes to move into Odessa, Midland or New Mexico. He said he's signed a development agreement to bring between 20 and 30 Huddle House locations to West Texas and Eastern New Mexico within the next 10 years.

"We're excited about it," he said.