Prairie Star closed for remodeling

By Sam Waller

Albany’s Prairie Star Deli & Grill will be closed for at least two weeks to undergo remodeling following the sale of the business.

Eddie Edington, who co-owned the business with his wife, Deneen, and sister, Treca Edington, sold the local convenience store and lunch spot to AllStar Fuel of Plainview with the change of ownership taking place this month.

While the store is closed, the gas pumps will remain open. All transactions must be by card at the pump.

“We opened in April of 2000,” Eddie Edington said. “Treca took care of it until she had some health issues.”

Prairie Star, located at 225 Hill St., will continue doing business under the same name once it reopens. Renovations are expected to take at least two weeks. The store closed Monday, April 10 so the project could begin.

Edington said the deal includes other parcels in the 200 block of Hill Street, but that his family still retains several properties located in the 300 block and along Ellison Street. Prairie Star is just one of many businesses to occupy the block over the years.

“The old Longhorn Restaurant was on the corner, but that didn’t belong to us,” Edington said. “Right behind here, my grandmother owned two rent houses, and she owned a rent house across the street where the cook shack is now. There was a dry cleaner on this lot and another old house that I tore down. My son had a car lot there.”

Edington said his time will now be occupied by his cattle operation.

“Deneen will go back to cutting hair,” he said. “Treca’s been retired about a year now.”

Allstar Fuel, which recently replaced Shell as the store’s fuel distributor, began as Fred Garrison Oil Co. in 1951. It adopted its new name in 2001.