Valentine’s Day will be a special one for Ken and Laurie Hannasch of Colman, this year. The two will be toasting both the end of an era, and new beginning, of sorts.
Ken, who most of you know as Skins, will close 34 Stop that morning, his gas station and convenience store along Highway 34.
He’ll do inventory.
And on Wednesday, he and Laurie will sign the business over to business partners and Justin Goth and Jessica Sargent of the Classic Corners franchise.
“I’m happy,” said Skins. “It’s been a lot of fun. A lot of fun. It’s also been a lot of hard work, but I’ve had a lot of really good employees and met a lot of good people.”
That’s been the best part of the business, he’ll tell you. The people that he’s been able to meet and visit with — it’s been 16 years of early morning coffees with local farmers, card games throughout the day, jokes told, smiles exchanged, bait sold, lunches made, and laughs with the group of regulars that come in and sit for awhile each day,

The interesting and eclectic mix of passersby stopping for fuel and a soda or other quick snacks were a trip as well.
Just how did Skins wind up behind the counter, anyway?
The Tracy, Minnesota native moved to South Dakota when he was pretty young. Skins was fairly fresh out of school, had gotten laid off from a construction job and needed work. A friend told him about T&R Electric. He came to Colman for an interview on Leap Day in 1984. He’s been here ever since.
Skins started the very next day doing salvage work but moved quickly up through the ranks thanks to a background in bookkeeping. He was ultimately promoted to inventory.
It was crazy, he said, how quickly the next 23 years, 9 months and 2 weeks went by. He was ready for a change.
“I wanted to do something different, so my wife, Laurie said, ‘We should buy RJ’s (what it was called at the time)’. And I said, ‘You’re crazy.’ The next morning she said, ‘No, seriously, we should buy it.’”
In December of 2006, the store was theirs. He’s been behind the counter ever since. But with Laurie retiring in December of this past year and their own children now with children of their own, the couple wanted something a little less stressful and perhaps a bit more flexible.
Ironically, to do that, Skins will be returning to the company that brought him here. He’ll soon be back at T&R Electric where he is scheduled to be part of the purchasing team.
And as he transitions back to work there, 34 Stop will transition into Classic Corner Colman.
The owners, who also have stores in Madison, Baltic and Colton, are planning what everyone, including Skins, say are some exciting changes.
It’s time, he said.
“I’m going to miss the people but having all of the freedom will be alright.”