ETBLITZ WELCOMES NEW AD PARTNERS! | Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center, Zippy J’s and Gateway Travel Plaza, and Denny’s join ETB ad family
It can be accepted as an axiom that if someone has been doing something for over 50 years, excelling at it, and established not only as a leader in care in one community, but in two – that individual, or more specifically, their practice, has a trusted place in the hearts of those who live there.
Don’t ever give less than your best, and don’t ever expect to.
For Dr. Jerry Ted Roberts, that has been his life.
Dr. Roberts founded practices in both Kilgore and Gilmer, now collectively known as Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center, the premier optometry practice not only in those communities, but in East Texas.
And now, ETBlitz.com welcomes Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center and other amazing East Texas institutions Zippy J’s and Gateway Travel Plazas and Denny’s all to the ETBlitz.com advertising family. Readers of ETBlitz.com will soon see advertising for all of them here on the site.
“Every single partner that we have in advertising with ETBlitz.com, we sought to establish that partnership because of excellence in their own field,” said Mitch Lucas, editor and publisher of ETBlitz.com, and president of WCAT Productions, LLC.
“Whataburger is the leader in quality food and celebrating its 75th anniversary of making people happy. Energy Weldfab is a national pace-setter in oil and gas processing equipment, and has done so for more than 35 years. No law firm its size has had the success in the United States that Goudarzi & Young have had in the area of 18-wheeler accidents since the mid-1990s. Clower Meats has provided excellent products and services not only in Kilgore, but in East Texas, since 1969. And ETX Electrical is a locally-owned business with a growing customer base that serves all of the ETBlitz area, as well.
“Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center fits perfectly with each of those fantastic brands: they are THE leader in East Texas in eye care. I have respected and admired Dr. Roberts for many years, after relocating here in 2002, and I have personal experience with their Kilgore office, in that myself and my family have been patients for well over a decade. These folks are dedicated to optometry, to their patients, and to the East Texas communities they serve.”
Joining Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center as a part of advertising here with ETBlitz.com are these other incredible businesses, under the umbrella of Roberts-Hatchett Investments:
- Zippy J’s / Gateway Travel Plazas / Wash Masters.
- Denny’s, 24-hour diner and breakfast restaurant.
“We are excited about our new relationships with Zippy J’s and Gateway, with Denny’s and of course, with Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center, and there are some really exciting things coming as a part of that that will even involve our fans, especially this fall during football season. I’ve already said more than I should have – I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag just yet. But it will be a lot of fun.”
ETBlitz.com was launched in October, 2023, under parent company, WCAT Productions, LLC. Since then, the site has grown so much, a record 900,000 hits in the month of December, 2024, and average between 450,000 and 550,000 hits a month. That’s because of our readers, helping to get the word out.
The best part about ETBlitz.com is that the site has no paywall! Readers can come enjoy our articles, photos and features on local sports without worry of a subscription, thanks largely to our advertising partners.
Communities and schools that we cover are (in alphabetical order) Arp, Gilmer, Gladewater, Henderson, Kilgore, Leverett’s Chapel, Overton, Sabine, Tatum, Troup, West Rusk, White Oak and Kilgore College.
We believe in local, Local, LOCAL. For anyone wishing to contact ETBlitz.com about advertising, do so by e-mailing Mitch Lucas at mlucas@etblitz.com, or message us on Facebook page, simply ETBlitz.com.
Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center
Leading the Kilgore practice are Dr. Jadie Roberts and Dr. Shiloh Roberts, and Gilmer’s practice is led by Dr. Shawn K. Johnston, himself a Gilmer native.
Read about more about Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center’s physicians, check out all the services that are offered, see more about frames, contact lenses, and sunglasses, and more at their excellent website here: Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center. There’s even an option to complete forms that might be necessary online, rather than doing it all in the office.
The Kilgore location is located at 1100 Stone Road, Suite 2020, and they can be reached there at (903) 983-2020. They’re open Monday through Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., on Thursdays from 7:30 until 3 p.m., on Fridays from 7:30 until noon.
Gilmer’s offices can be reached at (903) 843-5400, and they’re located at 710 N. Titus Street. Their hours are a little different than the Kilgore location: Gilmer is open Mondays from 7:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., and they’re closed on Fridays.
Message them here, depending on which location suits best: Contact — Kilgore-Gilmer Eye Care Center.
Zippy J’s / Gateway Travel Plaza
Anyone who’s ever been into a Zippy J’s has probably had the thought that, ‘wow, this is a little more than a convenience store.’
Guess what? That’s exactly the goal for which they were aiming.
The pledge is in black-and-white, big font-size on the Zippy J’s website for all to see: “Our business is focused on serving neighbors, empowering passionate workers, and supporting the local community we belong to – which is why we like to refer to Zippy J’s as “Community Stores.”
Their website: Zippy J’s Community Stores and Gateway Travel Plazas.
It’s one thing to strive for greatness. Zippy J’s achieves it, every day, in communities all over East Texas, and the ETBlitz.com coverage area.
The ETBlitz crew hits Zippy J’s on a regular basis when we’re heading out to a game, heading home, and through the week. We get snacks if we want them, can go to restrooms that are always reliably-clean, and gas up the car.
And we are far from alone.
There are 25 Zippy J’s stores and four TA Plazas now; they employ over 500 East Texans and collectively, serve over 30,000 every day.
Zippy J’s has six locations in the Kilgore area, and a Gateway Travel Plaza, on Highway 42 (at 4403 TX-42), near Interstate 20.
There are eight Zippy J’s in the Longview area; four in Tyler; plus stores in Henderson, Palestine (where there is also a Zippy J’s / Pilot store), Beckville, Trinidad and Brenham, with another coming to Brenham soon. And in addition to Kilgore, there are Gateway Travel Plazas located in Nacogdoches, Carthage and in Fairfield.
Wash Masters, where there’s no better place to clean up your pick-up or car, has locations in Kilgore, Longview (two), Tyler, Henderson, and Palestine.
Find a Zippy J’s, a Gateway or even Wash Masters near you here: Store Locator – Zippy J’s Community Stores & TA Travel Plazas. That link has the exact locations of each of those stores.
Denny’s
The Denny’s brand is recognizable by just about anyone: Denny’s restaurants are across the nation, as well as Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, New Zealand, UAE, Costa Rica, Guam, Honduras, Indonesia, Curacao, and El Salvador.
There are 204 Denny’s in Texas alone, and over 1,400 worldwide.
The Denny’s location in Kilgore is near the Zippy J’s / Gateway Travel Plaza, at 4315 Texas Highway 42 North, about a half-mile from I-20. If you’re there after a game on Friday night, you might see a huge crowd there – it gets fairly busy after a Kilgore win. And a similar scene plays out at another location in the ETBlitz.com area: Henderson, located at 100 U.S. Highway 79 South.
Denny’s is open, of course, around the clock, 24 hours, and serves breakfast each and every one of them, in addition to a wide menu of diner favorites, like T-bone steaks, country fried steaks, salads, sandwiches, and more.
What we know now is one of the great diners in our culture began as a doughnut store – Danny’s Donuts – in Lakewood, California in 1953. Fourteen years later, Denny’s was an international phenomenon.
Denny’s opened in Kilgore in 2010, and there are others throughout the ETBlitz area, including Henderson and Longview.
Their website (Denny’s | 24-Hour Diner and Breakfast Restaurant) has a great store locator, and of course, their menu is fully accessible and you can order online.
Our thanks to Dr. Jerry Ted Roberts and to all of these businesses for joining the ETBlitz.com advertising family. We support all of our ad partners by doing business with them, and we encourage all our readers to do the same. These business-owners are here in our communities and are giving back every single day, employing hundreds, donating their time through civic work, and helping our local economy.