By NICK GOSNELL and RICK KRAUS
Hutch Post
SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Red Rock Auto Center is the Market South Hutch Business of the Month.
"My dad and I started this back in January of 2000," said owner Steve Miller. "We've been doing this for about 22 years now."
Steve and his dad always dreamed of having their own shop.
"I have the rare luxury of being able to spend time with my dad and work with my dad in a way, that at least for the first 10 years, I know a lot of people don't get the chance to do," Miller said.
The move to South Hutchinson was to give Red Rock Auto Center the opportunity to grow. When Orrin Pitts, the owner of Orrin's Pittstop was ready to sell, Miller was ready to buy and they've been in South Hutch for 12 years.
"It afforded us the opportunity to get back to our roots, which is cars and trucks," Miller said. "Yoder was a fantastic launching pad, but it included a lot of the ag community, which we were new to."
The expansion has allowed Miller to have ten employees at this point and a true, full-service shop.
"We are the ultimate full-service location," Miller said. "When you pull in here, even though our building still looks like 1957 Mayberry, if you were to pull in. We still have full-service pumps, that we'll pump your gas. What does full-service mean in repair shop? It's filling your tank with gas all the way through the repair in the back."
It's a place where you can go for anything you need for your car or truck, and it's locally owned and family owned, so you know your money is staying in the local community, as much as possible.
"We have the mantra of, feed those that feed us," Miller said. "We also get really big in our community. If one of our employees were to have baseball teams or softball, we'll get into the sponsorship of stuff like that or helping fund some of those things. We get really involved in a couple of school districts, Nickerson district being one of them. The track team, we just love what they are doing there, some local softball teams that we're a part of. We do a local Girl Scout cookie promo every spring."
One lucky scout gets to be the beneficiary of the order of 19 cases of cookies and then customers get that benefit, as well.
"Being a part of the community is just the high point for me," Miller said. "It's just being a part of what's going on. We've been very blessed. If I can be a part of the community in some way, you know, some day it may be my turn to be on the other side."
Costs are going up for the inputs that go in to keeping your car running.
"Since November, there have been four 15% increases on anything that's petroleum or metal based," Miller said. "When I say petroleum based, I mean anything from tires to motor oil to any of the fluids that may go into your Buick or your Dodge pickup. That follows into supply and demand, where what we were able to get in 15 minutes to an hour, now sometimes takes three to five days. They talk about supply chain. There is an issue right now. I'm not sure what's causing it."
Red Rock Auto Center is located at 200 North Main in South Hutchinson. They are open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturday 8 a.m. to noon. They are closed on Sunday. Call them to make a service appointment at (620) 663-9822.