Barbour's - the block-walled Ceres business landmark since the 1950s at Whitmore and Mitchell - is but a memory. The popular store was razed last week to clear the site for a new Cruisers convenient store and Prime Shine Car Wash.

Boyett Petroleum Company, the company that bought the business from Dennis Barbour, has been talking about the project for five years. Barbour sold the three generation family enterprise to Boyett 10 years ago. Company officials said the store had its devoted customer base but it was losing business because it was not attracting new customers.

Dale Boyett, the company president, said last year that the site was "losing a fair amount of business from folks who just don't like the way it looks." He added that the old store was too "old and has way too much space for our needs."

The Ceres store will be sized at 7,200 square feet and will be the third Cruisers mart for the company.

Boyett owns a total of 12 locations.