Quincy 1-Stop plants time capsule
When the 1-Stop convenience store and gas station in East Quincy seals up its construction site this week, a little something extra will be left behind for future generations.
Manager Shelli Braswell is rewarding the ingenuity of her six-person staff by OK’ing the burial of a little time capsule under the four double-sided gas pumps that are being installed at the popular fuel stop.
“We’re getting an upgrade on our eight gas pumps, which are usually replaced every 30 years,” Braswell said during an interview at the warm, busy store while snow flurries gathered outside over the temporary rectangular pit where the old gas pumps once stood.
Fielding questions and ringing up customers, who seemed undeterred by the construction zone and yellow caution tape, Braswell commented, “Our construction will be completed by early April and the idea that the pumps will be dug up and replaced again in another 30 years got my employees thinking about how different things will be all that time from now.”
Employee LaKisha McNutt thought up the idea for the time capsule.
“It just came to me,” McNutt said, “that we could all get involved in doing a time capsule. Since they’ll be replacing these pumps again in 30 years, maybe we could have a reunion and it would be fun to see where we all are then, how our lives will have changed.”
Coworkers Rose Campbell, Jesse De La Cruz, Deborah Grubbs, Mickey McKinnon and Robert Snavely loved the idea and got busy assembling mementos to place inside the sturdy 3-inch black PVC pipe that measures about 18 inches in length. The ends screw on snugly to keep the contents safe and dry for posterity.
Family photos that include loved ones and pets will be placed inside the time capsule, along with a toy or two, a crystal, the business card for S.W. Maintenance Corp. from Weed which is doing the construction work, a pair of favorite Oakland Raiders gloves and today’s newspaper article.
Plans also call for the colleagues to toss in coins dated from the years the employees were born.
“I might do that, if I can find a coin that old!” joked Campbell, holding her 1-year-old baby girl NyaLee in her arms.
Owned by Pete Baines, a Plumas County businessman, the store and station were established in 1984 by other owners and located at 2003 East Main Street across from Sav-Mor grocery store.
The convenience store remains open while the renovations are underway and regular operating hours are continuing: Monday through Saturday, 4 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sundays, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
