Owensville’s McDonald’s restaurant will close Labor Day and is scheduled to re-open Sept. 30 following an extensive interior and exterior renovation.

A concrete parking lot will be installed to replace the existing asphalt. There will be a second “side-by-side dual” drive-up ordering lane and digital menu boards for placing your orders. Inside, handicap accessible bathrooms are being reconfigured and enlarged. The entrance off of Highway 28 will be widened, realigned and improved.

Gone is the children’s play room. In its place will be “U-Create” interactive touch-pads and “sparkle tables,” which store owner Joan Elhoffer said will give their young visitors a chance to create patterns and play games with the touch of their hands.

“It will be like a brand new store,” said Elhoffer, a franchisee owner of seven McDonald’s restaurants in Missouri. “It will just bring it to a fresh new look.”

Although she said they are not enlarging the physical layout of the facility very much, the changes to the configuration of the store will increase the workspace in the kitchen area considerably.

Gone will be the video-rental service “Red Box” which is being eliminated from McDonald’s stores across the system.

Elhoffer bought the Owensville store three years ago as of Aug. 1.

“This is a wonderful community to be a part of,” she said.

Elhoffer said 70 percent of the store’s business comes from drive-up customers. She hopes to increase that sales figure to 75 percent.

The interior will have all new LED lighting fixtures and an expanded seating area where the play structures once were. The ceiling in the front toward Highway 28 will be lowered. New tiled wall treatments are planned and there will be new flooring as well.

Demolition of the old play area began a week ago Tuesday. A storage room constructed three years ago is also being removed from the front of the store. A bathroom in the area is being enlarged. 

The soft-drink station will be relocated closer to the east entryway. Seating kiosks will help complete the revamped dining area.

Elhoffer and her husband, David, met in 1975 when they worked together as crew members of a McDonald’s in Hazelwood. She handles operations for their seven store. He handles the bookkeeping.

Along with their Owensville facility, they have stores along the “I-70 strip,” she said, including New Florence, Warrenton, Wright City, Foristell, Wentzville, and in Troy at the junction of Highways 40 and 61.

Elhoffer said they are planning to hold a grand re-opening ceremony on Saturday, Oct. 5.

During the three-week shutdown, employees from the Owensville store who want to get hours in have been offered shifts at other stores. Employees will also receive an upgrade in uniforms when they return.