META  — Meta Eagle Stop held an open house and ribbon cutting on Friday, and Gier Oil Company owners Tony Gier and his daughter, Jenna Gier, are happy with the show of support from the community.

“We get good community support in all of our stores,” Jenna said, noting this location is one of 54 she oversees.

The Giers also operate bulk plants and transport fuel to central and southwest Missouri stores. “We supplied Tom Hurst for years when he owned the Meta Mini Mart, so I knew the dynamics of the area,” said Tony, whose family still lives in the area. “The Champion family is still around here. Meta is kind of my hometown. The store was closed for a couple of years, and when I was approached to buy it, we thought, well, we’ll give it a try.”

Though Tony lives at the Lake of the Ozarks and Jenna resides in Springfield, they are familiar with Meta and look forward to the operation’s success.

Officially, the store opened for business last July, but a lot of work went into improving it. “We gutted the building and remodeled everything,” Tony said. “We made it nice.”

In addition to beautification, the Giers expanded food options, including Godfather’s Pizza Express and On the Fly Market.

Store Manager Liz Hollandsworth joined the company last year and was the assistant manager at a location in Jefferson City.

Jenna noted that she and her father focused on employees who want to move up. “We do a lot of transferring, if possible,” she said. “We try to work with our staff, and if they want to move and relocate, we try to do our best to help them out. We have a lot of that.”

Other employees at Meta Eagle Stop are Heather Grishom, Cassie Meyer, Tyler Sparks, Emma Jones, Haven Cape, Leona Duron, Shaylee Honse, and Kelly Wiles.

Visit https://eaglestopstores.com or the Eagle Stop Facebook page for more information.