Economy, higher fuel prices bring cutbacks at Truck Inn

The double whammy of higher fuel prices and the effects of a slowing economy on truckers led The Holder

Group to dramatically scale back operations of the Fernley Truck Inn.

The Holder Group, a Sparks company that owns gaming and other properties across Nevada, closed the casino, motel, restaurant and bar at the Truck Inn, leaving its core operation a gas and diesel fueling station and a convenience store in operation.

Mac Potter, a spokesman for The Holder Group, said the independent truckers who make up much of Truck Inn's business have been pinched since early this year.

The slowing economy meant many independent truckers have fewer loads, and higher fuel prices cut deeply into the disposable income that truckers have available for spending at casinos, restaurants and motels.

"We could see no real signs of relief going forward," Potter said last week. He said the company decided to focus on the specific needs of truckers and close facilities on the south side of the Truck Inn property.

With the scaled-back operation, about 55 employees were laid off. Potter said The Holder Group hopes to hire some of them at its other properties in northern Nevada.

The Truck Inn was developed along Interstate 80 in the early 1960s.

It's part of a portfolio of properties that The Holder Group has put on the market for sale. Those properties

include The Silver Club in Sparks, as well as casinos in Elko, Hawthorne, Gardnerville, Henderson, Spring Creek, West Wendover and Winnemucca.

They are listed with CB Richard Ellis.