Scotty’s marks 30 years

MOSES LAKE — It started with an audacious gamble by a 25-year-old mechanic. 

“I went to (Bill Duncan, who owned an industrial building on Citation Street), and I said ‘I’d like to get started. I’ll give you $100 down on the building, and then I’ll promise to pay the rent in two weeks or I’ll get out,’” said Scott Myers, who owns Scotty’s Auto Repair with his wife, Jeannette. “He looked me in the eye and said ‘OK, I’ll do it,’ and we shook hands, and he gave me the key.” 

That was in 1994, and Scotty’s celebrated its 30th birthday Friday with a party in its current location at 1450 E. Wheeler Road on the east side of State Route 17, where the shop has been since 2019. Scores of customers both past and present came to enjoy the party, which included no-appointment oil changes, food trucks, a photo booth and an ongoing game of Mario Kart. And, of course, lots of stories from Scotty’s 30 years in business. 

When he took a chance on the Citation Street building, Myers said, he had a single job lined up, a delivery van that needed lights rewired. With the money from that job, he went in on advertising flyers with five other small businesses, which the owners distributed to bulletin boards and phone booths around town. Those flyers brought in enough business to keep his promise to Duncan, and the business grew from there with Scott working on the cars and Jeannette handling the office duties. 

Myers’ second customer came back to visit Friday, he said. 

“She and her husband brought in a Ford pickup, and that came from one of those flyers hanging up at the bank,” he said. “And she’s been my customer all these years, and he’d come over and have coffee, because our motto was ‘The coffee’s always on.’” 

That building was barely large enough to hold two cars, Myers said, and soon Scotty’s moved to a slightly larger space nearby. By 2001, Scotty’s had outgrown that building, and the Myerses took up an offer of a place of their own. The owner of the land at 1625 Wheeler Road wanted a building and a tenant on that lot, and he offered to build whatever they wanted, lease them the building for five years, and then sell it to them.  

“We designed the building,” Myers said. “It was state-of-the-art, met every need I had. We moved in there, and were in that building for 17 years.” 

Business continued to increase, largely due to Scotty’s emphasis on customer service, Myers said. Besides the ever-present coffee pot, Scotty’s was the only shop that was open on Saturdays for about 20 years, he said. 

“You couldn't get your car worked on anywhere in town,” he said. “If it was Friday night and you broke down, you're in trouble. That paid off pretty good. A lot of times I'd get enough work on Saturday to fill the rest of the week, and people were glad to have me there to help them out, get them going again.”

Eventually, other shops began opening on Saturdays, he said, and the Myerses went back to a regular Monday-Friday schedule so as to have weekends with their growing family. 

In time, that location, at 3,600 square feet, was bursting at the seams as well. The building they’re in now, a former farm equipment dealership, is more than 24,000 square feet, according to county records. 

“I looked around and said man, you can play baseball in this building,” Myers said. “It’s huge. But it didn’t take long with the crew I had and the clientele I had, and we filled it up quick … The customers have been so loyal all these years, and it’s just fantastic.” 

Today Scotty’s Auto Repair boasts a crew of 14, counting Scott and Jeannette, and it’s very much a family operation.  

“I’ve got nieces and nephews who work here,” he said. “I’ve got my own kids working here. I was really blessed that my dad worked with me for years and years until he passed away. I learned a lot from the older generation … Having the support of the family behind me made such a difference. You know, a lot of times you want to quit, and you ask, ‘Why am I doing this?’ But then you know, get through the rough times and we’ve made it what it is today.” 

As the party went on, one customer after another wandered by to shake Scott and Jeannette’s hands and congratulate them. The Myerses answered cordially, remembering customers’ names and the vehicles they’d brought in seemingly effortlessly. 

“I know these customers,” he said. They're people, not just a number, and that's what makes a big difference. You treat people as people and do a fair job for a fair price … Their car is probably the second-biggest thing they'll ever buy in their life, and no matter what it is, it's the best they’ve got right now. So you treat it that way.” 

    Scott, left, and Jeannette Myers in front of Scotty’s Auto Repair’s former location on Wheeler Road. That building was custom built for Scotty’s, Scott said, and the Myers family fixed cars there for 17 years.
  

    Customers past and present visit and reminisce at Scotty’s Auto Repair’s 30th birthday celebration Friday.