2009-02-26

Cool down & water up without liftin’ & totin’

By Stephanie Parker

For ice at a nice price and clear clean-tasting water, visit Bandera’s new ice and water vending house on Main Street in front of Circle M Business Corral.

New Braunfels business partners Mike Turner and Audrea Gibson own the enterprise, which they say provides bargain prices and 24-7 convenience to customers.

“You don’t have to tote five-gallon bottles of water across a parking lot,” Gibson explained. “You can pull right up to the machine in your car. One dollar purchases five gallons of reverse osmosis filtered water.”

Ice is available at an even nicer price. “Compared to convenience store prices, well, there is no comparison,” Gibson said. “We sell our ice for a third or less of what other places charge. You can fill up your ice chest with 24 pounds of ice for $1.75. Just put the ice chest under the chute and pull the lever. You don’t even need to mess with a bag.”

She added. “For those who want bags of ice, we have those, too. Our bags are 20 pounds and are vended already heat-sealed.”
The ice and water house vending machine provides change for everything up to a $10 bill.

Turner and Gibson have been pleased with the success of their Bandera enterprise so far.

“Our water is great!” Gibson enthused. “We’ve sold the tar out of it. We figured that with South Texas being so hot all but about three months of the year, ice would be a convenience for the community. But we never realized how many people had bad water and have to buy it somewhere. I think our business really benefits the community.”

Gibson and Turner lease the water house location from Circle M Business Corral owner Bob Miller. “He’s a great landlord,” Gibson said. “He’s been very helpful.”

Gibson said that the City of Bandera required them to confirm to an architectural style that incorporated a “cowboy look.” To comply, they used “looks-like-rock” stucco trim around the building and installed western-style barrels as guardrails. Far from resenting the requirement to go the extra mile to adhere to a look associated with the Cowboy Capital of the World, Gibson and Turner love Bandera and enjoy visiting with customers.

“We are spending more and more time here and starting to get more and more involved in special events,” Gibson explained.
The Main Street business is located next to Thrifty Family. For more information, or to report a problem, call 830-609-7446.