Some Truck Stops Battle to Survive

RAPHINE, Va. – In many ways, White’s Truck Stop is more like a museum than a place where 18-wheelers pull in for food and fuel.

	Michael James - Transport Topics
	David White’s weapon collection includes a Civil War revolver and hand-crafted knives.

Outside the entrance to the all-brick main building stands a glass booth encasing a row of seven classic motorcycles dating back to the early 1900s. Each looks brand new.

Then there is the extensive collection of knives and guns — numbering into the hundreds — that decorates the hallway leading to the restaurant.

Truck stop owner David White prizes his collection of Civil War revolvers, custom pistols, machine guns used by Chicago mobsters in the 1920s, World War II infantry bayonets and one-of-a-kind blades crafted by world-renowned knife maker Edmund Davidson.

The truck stop’s restaurant is home to an extensive antique collection of dolls, vases and other items gathered by Margaret “Peggy” White, who has managed the food end of the business since the opening 30 years ago.

“You should see the place at Christmas,” said Gary T. Pilgreen, general manager of the business and the Whites’ son-in-law. It “has a lot of Santa Claus figurines all over the place and real-live Christmas trees everywhere. The truck drivers like it because it makes our place different, not ‘cookie cutter’ like some of the truck stop chains.”

David White has deep roots in the truck stop industry. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., he started out on July 4, 1954, pumping gas at the now-defunct Transit Truck Stop in Laurel, Md.

He also was a founding member of Natso Inc., originally called the National Association of Truck Stop Operators, participating in the organization’s first meeting in October 1960 in Washington.

But the uniqueness of places such as White’s is rapidly disappearing from America’s highways, as independent businessmen find themselves unable to cope with thinning profit margins in the $36 billion truck stop and travel plaza industry.

National chains of truck stops are using the advantages they have in purchasing power and nationwide coverage to increase their market share. This leaves independents looking for innovative ways to compete.

For the full story, see the Jan. 31 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.