Travelers Gazebo Gardens and Pet Center to close

To thrive, sometimes a business has to evolve. Travelers Gazebo Gardens and Pet Center has done just that over the last 53 years. But now the owners, Michael Obermiller and Glenda Bridges, are retiring.

The business as it's known today is considerably different from the one Jesse and Marvalyn Obermiller opened in 1963. Travelers Conoco was a service station, garage and 24-hour wrecker service.

Jesse Obermiller's son Michael joined the family business in 1975, working in the garage.

"This is the only place I have ever worked," Obermiller said.

Bridges, Jesse and Marvalyn Obermiller's daughter, joined the business in 1985. She was head of the business department at Scott City High School and taught business education there until she and her husband moved to Farmington, Missouri. When Bridges' daughter was born, the family moved to Southeast Missouri so she could work and raise her daughter.

Glenda Bridges, left, and her brother Michael Obermiller, co-owners of Travelers Gazebo in Cape Girardeau, stand in the entryway of their longstanding family business Thursday.Laura Simon

"At the time, I wasn't ready to put my child in day care," Bridges said. "I didn't want someone other than family to raise my child. That was the trade-off. My mom would take care of my daughter while I worked, and then we would switch off."

"And then, once you're here, you might as well stay," she said.

The first evolution in the business came in the late 1970s.

"Conoco had left this part of the country," Obermiller said, so the name of the family business changed to Travelers Garage and Gas.

The business ran smoothly as Travelers Garage and Gas for more than a decade, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a new, larger change was needed.

"Cars were going electrical back then," Obermiller said. "We either had to get in it, or get out. Guys my age, we would have had to go back to school and buy a lot of equipment to keep up with modern cars."

At the same time, Jesse Obermiller retired from the business, choosing to focus his time on the family farm.

New EnvironmentalProtection Agency guidelines at the time also encouraged a change in focus.

"We would have had to put in all new tanks and lines," Obermiller said.

That perfect storm of changes gave Bridges and Obermiller the opportunity to transform the business. Choosing to move out of the car-repair and service-station business, Obermiller and Bridges decided instead to bring their hobbies to work with them. Obermiller brought his interest in aquatics, and Bridges, her love of horticulture.

"We did a transition, but we didn't do it overnight," Obermiller said. "We took several years to do the swap. At one time, we actually sold gasoline and plants at the same time."

So since the early 1990s, Obermiller and Bridges have run Travelers Gazebo Gardens and Pet Center. Saltwater and freshwater fish tanks and bird cages line the walls of the former garage. Where gasoline pumps once stood, gravel was put down for parking. Trees, shrubs, bedding plants and concrete lawn decorations surrounded the building on Sprigg Street. In addition to the brick-and-mortar store, Obermiller offered fish-tank maintenance service to area homes.

"Diversity is the key to survival," Obermiller said. "You can't do just one thing and expect to stay in business."

After two decades, the brother-and-sister duo decided it was time to retire, citing age as the main reason for the decision. The spring season is particularly brutal with age, Obermiller said.

"We work seven days a week," Obermiller said. "It's very grueling, especially as you get older."

And even in the quieter times, the upkeep of a business is demanding. "Small business never gets big enough where you can delegate it out," Obermiller said.

Plants and shrubs no longer surround the building, partially due to the winter season but also because much of what was available has been sold off. The fish tanks are emptier. There are fewer furry critters waiting for families. Most of the merchandise is available for reduced prices.

The store will close March 31. But the siblings still expect to be busy.When she's not in the shop, Bridges has been caring for the elder Obermillers.

"Our dad's 87, and our mom's 84," Obermiller said. Bridges will continue to help care for them and plans to spend more time with her grandson and a new one that's on the way.

When the store closes, Obermiller will continue the fish-tank maintenance service he has been offering over the years, and they both intend to rent out the corner property. "And we have the family farm, a 90-acre family farm. That's a job, too."

Obermiller said they appreciate their customers and all the loyalty they've shown over the years, but age and myriad outside responsibilities are prompting this new transition.

But even when the store is closed, "we have a full plate," Obermiller said. "We're used to working our whole lives; we're not just going to quit."

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

104 N Sprigg St, Cape Girardeau, MO