Stevens Point Journal from Stevens Point, Wisconsin • Page 27

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2000 SERVING MARSHFIELD STEVENS POINT WISCONSIN RAPIDS D-3 In the Mood. High gas prices hurting business i MARSHFIELD Frank M. Baltus purchased a gas station. His son Vern started a distributorship, a couple service centers and a car wash. And Vern's wife Clara and their 10 children helped him expand the business to convenience stores, restaurants and more.

"St-, FRANK BALTUS BALTUS "It's the family that keeps this going," said Vern, who started working at his dad's station in 1943 and retired 50 years later as president of a vastly-expanded Baltus Co. When John Baltus replaced his father, he started the third gener FT VERN Marshfield's Baltus Co. is a three-generation family business from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1980, and worked briefly for a firm there before joining his father in 1981. "I started him on the road, looking for opportunities for our company," Vern Baltus said. In 1982, John became manager of the first Baltus Bread and Butter Shop at 1000 N.

Central Ave And he held several positions before he became the company's president. Frank, who's now a vice president of operations, graduated from UW-Madison in 1985. "We had a couple of convenience stores at the time, and the company was expanding so I thought I'd try it out," he said. Along the way, he has been a store manager and an overall supervisor of the convenience stores. Elizabeth Bertram manages the south Marshfield store, and started with the in 1970.

Her husband, Karl is also a vice president. Baltus said the company has been fortunate to have good managers dedicated employees. The firm about 140 workers. talks with pride about his children, especially happy that they're very their community. quite an honor to be in a family Frank said.

"There are a lot of but there are a lot of rewards ation of leadership in the business. "I told my kids they'd be working in the car wash," Vern joked. "They all worked at least part-time for awhile" Most went into other fields such as teaching and social work. John, his brother Frank and sister Elizabeth made the Baltus Co. their careers.

John graduated accounts run out of fuel." The fuel situation was ten-uous throughout the 1970s, he said. I Tensions eased between the United States and the Middle East oil producers in the 1980s. But after Iraq in- vaded Kuwait, the Gulf War made oil a contentious battle- ground. And it seems to have stayed that way. In spite of what some think, Baltus said he is not comfortable with the higher prices.

"The higher the price, the lower the profit margin," he said. "Yon want to keep the price as low as you can so you can serve your customers. When you raise pri- ces, you make people upset. It's been tougher to do busi- ness this year because of the higher prices. But we have to do it to stay ahead of the game." i "If people really knew what it takes to get this prod- uct to the marketplace, they'd know how tough it is," Baltus said.

"If there's a fire at an Dil factory, a pipeline springs a leak or a terminal has to be rebuilt, it affects the basic price. There's a very thin line between supply and demand." i However, Baltus does see a possible silver lining. "If the price gets higher, it could encourage local invest- ment in this country. There's a lot of oil to be gotten. It's coming out of the cracks all over the place." MARSHFIELD We've heard it before, but we don't want to believe it.

"The day isn't too far away when we'll think that $1.60 (per gallon) gas is cheap," said Vera Baltus, retired president of the Baltus Co. that sells gasoline on both the retail and wholesale levels. "We're so reliant on foreign oil," he said. "The Arabs kept the price so low that it discouraged all kinds of independent oil drillers here in the United States. And then you've got Greenpeace and other environmental groups protesting whenever you do try to open a rig.

We're at the mercy of you know who OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies). "I wouldn't want to be the next president (of the United States)," Baltus said. "If one of those (oil producing) countries blows up another country. But then, being in the oil business has never been easy. During World War II, he said the average Marshfield family was rationed only three gallons of gas per week.

In 1973, the Arab oil embargo created fuel shortages worldwide On top of that, former president Richard Nixon imposed wage and price controls to keep the U.S. economy in check. "We were forced to sell at cost or less," Baltus said. "It was tough to get product. But I never once had any of my Biiuus JOHN iieops mis going.

BALTUS 0 side company Bertram, Frank always and now employs Vern and he's active in "It's business," headaches, also." OflLTUS: Company embraces cutting-edge ideas 1 BALTUS mo tamiiy mat VERN of grocery items like breakfast rolls, candy, tobacco, coffee 1 and soft drinks. Before then, national chains like 7-11 were veterans in the convenience store business but Baltus said they were missing one big element. "They didn't have gas," he said. "The petroleum retailers pushed that industry and revived it. It all started with a customer saying, 'I wish you had That's how those places got started.

Two years after opening its first convenience store, Baltus opened two more at 1207 E. Fourth St. and in Stratford. It was the first time a store like that ventured into an area small town. "They loved it," Baltus said.

"Finally, they had a place to pick up milk, pop and cookies fast." "The question always remained, could a little town support that big of an invest-. ment," Frank Baltus said. "The answer was clearly yes." And so they multiplied. When the downtown car wash became obsolete, Baltus opened a new car wash and Bread and Butter Shop at 539 S. Central Ave As the business grew, so did the Baltus family's involvement All of Vern's 10 children pitched in at least part-time at one time or another.

His son Frank and daughter Elizabeth made careers. And son John who managed that first Bread and Butter Shop is now the president of the company. Vern retired in 1993. Dad credits his family for keeping the business going and growing. In the last decade, the company purchased the former Southtown Foods property on Marshfield's south side and opened a convenience store and car wash.

As part of another trend. Subway opened a restaurant in that shop and the one in Stratford. Neillsville also has a Bread and Butter Shop. And Wisconsin Rapids has two, including one with a Subway, restaurant and laundromat That equals eight locations, in case you've lost count. And the company franchises the Bread and Butter shop name in places like Medford, Frank Baltus said.

The Tire and Car Center is now an Express Lube facility. Baltus brought the fast oil change to Marshfield in 1990. "I made a trip to Indiana to see one of the first (express lubes) ever put up," Vern said. That's were I got the idea." The company also bought several liquor shops and incorporated them into the convert- itiYiumir 406 Daly Avenue Wisconsin Rapids 421-1515 Office Hours: 8 a.m5 p.m. After Hour Emprnpnrip? From D-1 Pure gasoline "My first customer was my house," Baltus said about distributing home heating oil.

"In those days, you didn't have any big stations so you solicited business. We've always been residential (serving homes) and we had some farm customers. We never really went farther than 10 miles." Baltus closed the original service station in 1961, but not before he opened a new service center on West Fifth Street and South Chestnut Avenue that was the site of the former Evangelical Lutheran Church. It included three pumps the largest number in Marshfield by that time as well as an auto repair garage A few years later, he bought a house next door and opened a full service car wash. "We did everything with a hose and a bucket," Vern said.

"We did it all manually, with mitts. If we. had 12 cars (to wash), it was a big day." The Baltus Oil Co. incorporated in 1963. Seven years later, it was running two businesses the service center and the Baltus Tire and Car Care Center three blocks up Chestnut at West Second Street That new site was where Baltus introduced the self-service concept in 1972.

"It was a trend in the big cities and on the West Coast and the East Coast," Vera said. "My biggest fear was that we'd lose business (at the original service center), but that never happened." By then, Pure Oil merged with California's Union Oil Co. and became Union 76. The "Spirit of 76" was a strong brand for Baltus, and it helped the company expand its wholesale business. Baltus 'agreed in 1972 to become a "super marketer" for Union.

It started distributing petroleum products for about 10 smaller wholesalers in central and northern Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. That spurred the creation of Baltus Transport Co. Baltus always looked for new ways to serve customers and new opportunities to grow. By the time the Northway Mall opened on Marshfield's north side in 1979, Baltus already bought a piece of land at 1000 N. Central Ave, looking for a way to expand beyond downtown.

The trend toward convenience stores in the early 1980s gave him his chance Baltus opened its first Bread and Butter Shop Nov. 1, 1982, offering gasoline and a large array JUSTIN POLZIN left and Andrea Whitrock wipe down a car after it went through the full service car wash at Baltus' downtown Marshfield location. 1921 Pat Lyons and Lang Scharmann open the Home Service Station. 1926 Frank M. Baltus is named manager of the station, and buys Lang Scharmann's interest.

1941 Lyons dies and Baltus becomes sole proprietor. 1943 Baltus' son Vern begins working at the station. 1957 Vern Baltus builds a bulk petroleum storage facility, affiliates with Pure Oil Company and forms the Baltus Oil Co. 1961 Baltus purchases a former church property and opens a new service center. The Home Service Station closes.

A car wash opens at the site later. 1963 The Baltus Co. incorporates. 1970 Baltus purchases the former Felker Tire Center and opens the Tire and Car Care Center. 1972 The center becomes Marshfield's first self-service gas station.

1972 Baltus becomes a "super marketer" for Union Oil distributing fuel to smaller wholesalers. Baltus Transport Co. forms. 1982 The first convenience store, the Bread and Butter Shop, opens on Marshfield's north side. A convenience store also opens at the Tire and Car Care Center site.

1984 New convenience stores open near Marshfield's east side industrial park and in Stratford. 1988 Bread and Butter Shop opens in Wisconsin Rapids. 1990 Express Lube opens at Tire and Car Care Center site. 1991 John and Frank Baltus and Karl Bertram form a real estate partnership. 1993 Bread and Butter Shop opens in Neillsville.

Vern Baltus retires as company president, John Baltus succeeds him. 1995 Bread and Butter Shop, Subway restaurant and car wash open on Marshfield's south side. Subway also moves into the Stratford shop. 1995-96 Baltus buys liquor stores in Marshfield and Neillsville, moves liquor merchandise into Bread and Butter shops. 1998 Second Bread and Butter Shop opens in Wisconsin Rapids with Subway, restaurant and laundromat.

2000 East side Marshfield shop closes to make way for construction of the new Near East Boulevard. i I A ll.JL. shop was located near some of Marshfield's largest industries, including Weyerhaeuser and Felker Brothers Corp. The company is looking for a new site but it has no prospects. Looking to the future especially with the price of gasoline so volatile the firm will make sure any new location is on solid ground.

"It takes $1 12 million to open up a convenience store these days," Frank Baltus said. "You've got to know what you're doing. The business changes so quickly and we have a lot of competition. We have to keep on top of it all." Gerretsen write for the Marshfield News-Herald Uwitnsidr) 4235113 5 1 fc. ience stores.

And the first service center Baltus built is now where the company's headquarters are located. That's a lot of changes. And in 1997, Baltus changed the basic brands of its gasoline when Union 76 was phased out. Some stations offered Mobil gas, and some sold Amoco. "That turned out to be a positive move," Vern said.

"We showed growth, because we brought two good brands into this area." Not all is well, though. In July, the shop on East Fourth Street closed because the state bought the property for the new crosstown Near East Boulevard. "It broke my heart to have to close it," Vern Baltus said. The It's not too early to start planning now! i Would you like New JCitchen Cabinets installed before the A lv cP mTR? HolidaysfT- Denture Problems? prices tumble comnimiiii' bushel; December corn fell 2 cents to $1.87 34 a bushel; December oats fell 1 34 cent to $1.07 34 a bushel; November soybeans fell 8 12 cents to $4.83 14 a bushel. Beef futures advanced in trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, while pork futures were mixed.

October live cattle rose .15 cent to 67.80 cents a pound; October feeder cattle rose .20 cent to 85.67 cents a pound; October lean hogs rose .25 cent to 54.67 cents a pound; February frozen pork bellies fell .60 cent to 63.27 cents a pound. Grain, soybean CHICAGO (AP) Soybean and grain prices finished a down week on a low note Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade, sinking on a mixture of harvest pressure and profit-taking ahead of the weekend. Soybean prices lost about 2 percent of their value. The gearing-up of the harvest put extra pressure on a bearish market, and the sell-off accelerated when technical signals were triggered in the second half of the session. Corn futures fell to their lowest level since Aug.

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