Ken and Heidi Horncastle saw the fruition of a 14 year plan for their business this week as the finishing touches of a modernization project took place at Twin Lakes Market.
“We are certainly thankful to our customers who continued to support us through last month’s construction,” Ken said. Upgrades to the business’s fueling facilities had been part of the couple’s long term plans for the operation for more than a decade.
Major renovations were done to the operation’s parking lot and gas pumps, which resulted in construction interuptions and a temporary loss of fuel sales through June.
The Horncastles removed the business’s underground fuel tanks and upgraded their gas pumps, upgrades that also provided some piece of mind.
“The tanks had been in the ground for a long time.” Ken said, “ fortunately, we had no issues, no signs of leakage after all those years.”
Above ground tanks have been installed, along with four modern new pumps that will carry regular, mid-grade, premium and diesel. Marked premium gas will also soon be available.
Issues with wireless technology in the Twin Lakes area made the pay at the pump method uneconomic at this time, but an upside to that is, as Heidi pointed out, “that we will still get to see our customers.”
AFD, which partnered with the Horncastles to complete their upgrades, is a relatively new retail petroleum outlet in B.C. Twin Lakes Market is only the third outlet in the province, but the company is expanding quickly in B.C.
“Our fuels ship out of the Kamloops tank farm,” Ken said, “just like everyone else’s.”
Twin Lakes Market’s hours for the summer are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 7 a.m. - 8 p.m., Wednesday to Friday, Saturday 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.