A business that's served an eastern Iowa community for four decades will be changing ownership, but that's not all. Two facets of the business will be closing, very soon.

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John Ketchen has proudly owned John's Qwik Stop in Vinton for a very long time. For him, it's always been about community. Ketchen told Vinton Today,

"We have never turned down a single request for 27 years... Vinton has been a great community and I've been glad to have been part of it. Unfortunately, the time has come to step away from the business."

Those requests have come from a wide variety of local organizations. Vinton Today says they've included everything from the local school district to the city's parks and recreation department, Vinton's own Virginia-Gay Hospital, and countless extracurricular activities. That alone is one giant reason the announcement by John Ketchen that he's selling John's Qwik Stop is big news in the Benton County community of just under 5,000 people.

Ketchen announced Wednesday afternoon that he's selling John's Qwik Stop, which its website describes as "Vinton's FAVORITE convenience store for over 40 years!"

According to Ketchen, the A&W at John's Qwik Stop will close at the end of November, with the Godfather's Pizza closing before Christmas. Car wash gift cards and points should also be used by the end of December.

Like Ketchen's previous convenience store he owned along I-380 at Urbana, John's Qwik Stop is being sold to Casey's General Stores. Vinton Today reports that will happen sometime in the early part of 2023.

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