Less than six months after construction started, the new Shoemaker's Truck Station is up and running.

"We're selling fuel," said Karen Shoemaker, who along with her husband, Dave, owns the truck stop on the southwest corner of West O and Northwest 48th streets.

Shoemaker said the business opened Thursday. She called it a "soft" opening.

The convenience store and trucker facilities are open, but it will be a few more weeks before the signature Shoemaker's restaurant opens, Shoemaker said.

It will also be a few more weeks before the truck service operation, which is operating out of a temporary location at U.S. Express, 201 S.W. 27th St, moves to the new location.

Even though the convenience store is open, the space is partially unfinished, and work was continuing Tuesday.

Perhaps the most impressive feature is a wall-to-wall mural depicting the history of U.S 6. The mural, being done by

Mural Mural Graphics, was about half done as of Tuesday.

The $8 million, 29,000-square-foot truck stop was built from the ground up in about five months.

Shoemaker's, which had been across the street, had to close at the end of June when Don Shoemaker, Dave's uncle, didn't renew the 25-year-old lease for the truck stop. Don and his son Randy own the land and the buildings there.

Though they declined to discuss their falling out publicly, the two sides of the Shoemaker family did battle in court over the name of the business and whether Dave Shoemaker could remove fixtures from the existing restaurant.

Don and Randy Shoemaker have since reopened the existing truck stop and restaurant and renamed it Don and Randy Shoemaker's Truck Station.

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.