Rhodes 101 honored with Triumph Award

Watch Jim Maurer, co-owner of Rhodes 101 Stops, discuss the company's success, its history and its future, at the Small Business & Marketing Expo luncheon

For most people, a convenience store is a place to gas up, grab a snack and perhaps purchase a lottery ticket.

For Jim Maurer and Paul Dirnberger, it is a way of life. And their focus is making their stores, Rhodes 101 Stops, the brand people look for as they are headed down the road.

Maurer and Dirnberger are partners, operating the business Maurer's father-in-law, F.E. "Gene" Rhodes, began as a Gulf Oil distributorship more than five decades ago. From those beginnings as an oil jobber, the company has grown to 29 stores. In 2008, Maurer said in a speech Thursday, the company expects to handle more than $50 million in inside-store sales, which will provide 80 percent of the company's gross profit. He declined to give figures on total sales.

Rhodes 101 Stops was honored with the Triumph Award at the 2007 Tri-State Advertising and Marketing Professionals' 2007 Small Business and Marketing Expo, held at the Drury Lodge in Cape Girardeau.

He reflected on the phases of the business's expansion as it moved from "Pump-Ur-Own" stores selling gasoline and cigarettes at a handful of locations to having full-line convenience stores from Malden, Mo., to Desloge, Mo.

"Many things happened by trial and error," Maurer said.

The evolution of the business mirrored the development of gasoline retailing nationwide. As full-service stations disappeared, self-service became normal as rapidly increasing prices in the 1970s pushed customers to look for savings.

Rhodes purchased a bait shop next to one of its self-service stations, moving into merchandise beyond gasoline.

Then in the 1980s came the creation of the brand name for the store, based on an advertising campaign of "101 reasons to stop." The first convenience store was at 1610 N. Kingshighway, where the company purchased a 2,500-square-foot building, Maurer said. They next opened a store of their own design at 449 S. Kingshighway.

Other ideas followed, including the introduction of a 64-ounce soda cup in response to customer demand.

Along with the award and the speech, the company presented a video history. In the video, Gene Rhodes said he began with a $250 delivery truck, working 18 hours a day or longer. "I just closed my eyes and worked," he said.

And Maurer credited Dirnberger with developing the marketing ideas. Their symbiotic partnership worked because each concentrated on their area of interest, Maurer said in the video. "What I wasn't good at and didn't like, he was extremely good at and liked."

The best advice he can give other entrepreneurs, Maurer said in his speech, is to be innovative as the business grows.

"You have got to be looking for things to improve your business," Maurer said.

The Tri State Advertising and Marketing Professionals includes Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois and western Kentucky, said Mike Tenholder, president of the group. The expo, he said, is designed to provide small businesses assistance in promotion, branding and financing.

"We want to give them the information to help them grow," he said.

The day began with a talk by motivational speaker and author Sam Silverstein of St. Louis. His presentation, titled "No More Excuses," focused on the need for managers to take responsibility and to keep focused on important objectives.

"The No. 1 reason people succeed in life is they don't make or accept excuses," Silverstein said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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