05/11/2023
Friends and family, as some of you know this is the last week of Joseph's Automotive Service. Friday will be the last day of a legacy spanning from October 1979 to now. I've had the privilege of serving countless customers throughout the years and have seen generations of families roll through my front door.
Dad opened the doors of 900 West Mercury Blvd late 79 with two young kids and one on the way after suffering an unexpected partnership and financial loss around the corner off of Armistead Ave. Worried about his families future he searched for another location and found our current location up for rent/ lease. He presented his story to the landlord hoping he would help him out since he was in a tight bind and knowing Dad had nothing to front, the landlord gave him a chance that most people wouldn't. Dad opened the business bringing along a long time younger friend and employee he watched and helped grow in the automotive industry who shared his honesty and mechanical aptitude. Together they made Joseph's an outstanding business serving Hampton and the areas around. In 1996 Dad sold the business to Clay and they remained together with Dad as his employee. Clay kept the fair and honest business practices Joseph's always held up as a business model.
In 1998 I stormed in after being laid off from a construction job with no intentions of remaining there. I became employed there as a stepping stone to another construction job since my foreman was soon to be hired and would rehire me. Well, funny how life works out because after a month I realized that sweeping houses, running errands and operating heavy equipment wasn't my calling. When my old foreman called me with a job offer better than my previous job I had to refuse it. I knew that being a maintainer was where I needed to be. Together Clay and Dad saw the mechanical aptitude I didn't know I had before this and molded me into a better technician than I ever knew I could be. All the while teaching me how to treat customers with their second largest investments.
Tragically in 2003, the world lost an amazing human as unexpectedly we lost Clay. Words cannot express the shock and awe of this event to the people that loved him nor can it express what his family had to endure. One month later his wife allowed me to reopen the business with Dad. My fathers son became his boss at 25 yrs old. To say the least, it was a rocky road between me being a cocky 25 year old and him being set in his old ways but we made it work without choking each other.
Years progressed and the industry kept changing as it always does in the automotive industry. Being young I adapted to the change dragging my grumpy father the entire time showing him how digitizing receipts and records was far better, electronic manuals vs books, business management school and updating equipment would help make better repairs and yield larger profits, which ended up saving the business. Thankfully before he departed us in 2018 he was able to witness Joseph's growth and streamlining into a more updated shop than what we thought it could be.
Which brings us to now, after 20 years of running Joseph's and 25 years of working in the automotive industry I am moving into a similar but different career path. Utilizing what I've learned through my mechanical teachings from Clay and my father along with how they showed me what a genuine work ethic is, I have decided to move on. I am unwilling to adapt again to what the automotive industry is bringing in technology and at my age stepping into the company that hired me is a retirement no brainer.
It has been an absolute honor to serve Hampton and the surrounding areas. It has been an honor to have been chosen by so many people and to have so many families to step across our threshold, trusting us with the safety and maintenance of their vehicles. This separation will always be bittersweet and you all will be missed. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You.
