SLO County gas station and convenience store to get new owners. ‘A pretty special place’

May 9, 2024 Vaseline stjohnson 0

The Old Cambria Market convenience store and Shell gas station will change owners next month.

According to a notice on the door, the store located at 589 Main St. in Cambria, is being transferred to Harbor Business Ventures Inc.

Old Cambria Market is currently owned by John Hallvik and Eric Johnson who are both retiring. Hallvik told The Tribune the shop and gas station will have new owners likely by mid June, but it is still currently in escrow.

“We decided it was time to watch the Cambria sunset,” Hallvik, who has been the owner for 44 years, said. “We feel grateful to have found someone who can keep it at the same quality we have worked to attain.”

Old Cambria Market Place and Car Wash co-owners Eric Johnson, holding books, and John Hallvik, holding a computer.

The pair have been prominent members of the North Coast business community for decades.

In 2012, Hallvik and Johnson helped fundraise for Cambria to get a new library, matching donations up to $10,000. The library opened a year later in 2013.

“We have been proud to be a part of the community and hope we have done our part,” Hallvik told The Tribune.

In 2019, Johnson was credited with restraining an “armed and dangerous” man, who allegedly stabbed his girlfriend and kidnapped their 2-year-old daughter. Johnson and employee Tammy Hall recognized the man from an Amber Alert and restrained him until authorities arrived at the scene.

Eric Johnson, manager of the Old Cambria Marketplace and Shell station in Cambria, put a chokehold on a wanted suspect on Dec. 23, 2019, restraining the man until authorities arrived and took over.

At the time of the incident, Johnson told The Tribune he did “what 50 other people in Cambria” would have done and said he was just in the right place at the right time.

The market and gas station will keep the same employees under the new ownership, Hallvik said, which was an important part of the negotiations before selling.

“Cambria is a pretty special place and we honor that,” Hallvik said. “We really wanted to be part of that community and support it, and I think we have.”